Kingdom Hearts III: Connections
by Phoenix of the Darkness
Summary: Friends in trouble and his mother's untimely death put pressure on Sora, as he takes on enemies with power far beyond Organization XIII. Will he prevail, or will he lose everything dear to him? SoKai, Rated for Violence and Mild Language
1. Setting Events in Motion

_A/N: Well, here it is, my second try at a Kingdom Hearts III fic. Before you start reading, a warning: this fic will contain MAJOR spoilers for Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, and possibly Coded though nobody cares about Coded. There's a reason it's called 'Connections'._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Mickey Mouse, Master Yen Sid, Terra, Ven, Aqua, Master Xehanort, Sora, or Sora's mother. I do however own the mysterious man._

**Chapter 1: Setting Events in Motion**

_July 28th, Master Yen Sid's Tower, Twilight Town..._

A knock came at the door. "Enter." The young mouse king closed the door behind him as he entered the office. Master Yen Sid closed his book, and pushed it aside. "Mickey, my young disciple, it has been too long."

"Gosh, I'm not exactly young anymore, King of the Land of Disney, after all," Mickey pointed out.

"Ah, but you forget, I have lived a long life, and so see even a strong thirty year-old as a child in experience," Yen Sid said. "But then, you haven't disputed your status as my student, despite becoming a keyblade master in your own right."

"Wasn't it you who said that even the wisest man admits that he knows nothing? I'm still your student, because I still have plenty to learn from you," Mickey said.

"And you come again to learn something else," Yen Sid reasoned. "Unless you merely wish to continue our present discussion."

The King shook his head, almost sadly. "There's something else I need to tell you about." With a wave of the sorcerer's hand, an armchair appeared on the side of the desk opposite himself. "Put simply, Sora's journey hasn't ended. And if I'm right, it didn't begin with the heartless attacking Destiny Islands, either."

Yen Sid motioned for him to go on. "I think it goes back all the way to the three keyblade apprentices, ten years ago. Terra-" Mickey hadn't ever met him, but he'd heard a lot about him from others who had "-Ven, and Aqua. Their journey to find Master Xehanort is tied to Sora, Riku, and Kairi."

"An interesting theory," Yen Sid said thoughtfully. "Though unimpressive. Haven't you felt a trace of _him_? Around Sora? Yes, young Ventus, with the keyblade Fresh Breeze. You remember that he went to sleep again?"

"Vaguely," Mickey admitted. "It was a long time ago, a lot's happened since then."

"A stronger memory lets one make the connections between events. Ventus's heart left his body after fighting his darker half, Vanitas. It was meeting Sora that let me see it. His heart, lies within Sora's own, ever since that fateful day." With one hand, he made a flame jump over his fingers as he thought. "This is why his nobody, Roxas, looks identical to Ven, and why Sora has the potential to wield two keyblades, due to the presence of two hearts within his body."

"So, if Ven were to ever wake up," Mickey said slowly, "Would Sora lose half of his strength?"

"There's no way to tell," Yen Sid said. "Sora's heart is unpredictable. He is unique, due to all of the connections he has to others. If Ven were to awaken, he could lose every drop of power he had, never able to even summon the keyblade again. Or, he might stay the same. Or even, without having to support two hearts instead of one, his soul would strengthen, and he would become greater in power.

"Mickey, I should tell you now, I don't see any reason to tell Sora, or any of his friends, of his connections to Terra, Ventus, and Aqua. Be sure to not let Donald or Goofy speak of them, either. Only if it becomes absolutely necessary."

"What circumstances would 'absolutely necessary' be?"

"I will leave that judgment to you," Yen Sid said. "And that, as they say, is that. Is there anything else you wish to discuss?"

Both of them knew what subject it was Mickey wanted to know about, he'd wanted to know about it for ten years, but Yen Sid had always said 'The Keyblade War is none of your concern at the moment.'

However, there was one other. "The other night, I was looking up at the night sky, and I saw a star blink out. I didn't tell anyone, not Donald, Goofy, or even Minnie." His eyes met Yen Sid's-quite a feat, as anyone who has seen the firey gaze of Master Yen Sid could attest to. "I'm not the only one who knows. The other day, a man called Snow Villiers came from Radiant Garden, to tell me that more and more people had been coming from other worlds to theirs, and that Sora's help was needed."

"Hm, so theirs has taken the place of Traverse Town this time," Master Yen Sid said, his eyes now closed. "And with the rocky state of both social and political life there, more citizens is quite the opposite of what they need."

Ever since reconstruction was less and less of what they needed, the people of Radiant Garden had begun asking for a true government, instead of the leadership of the Restoration Committee. A city council of seven citizens had been formed, but many weren't happy. Some wanted to create a stronger democracy, others believed that the Restoration Committee had been the right way to go until the town was completely restored and the heartless gone, and still others wanted to restore the monarchy (even though Ansem the Wise was dead, and he had never produced an heir). It made it difficult to get anything unrelated to fighting the heartless done, to say the least.

"If, or when, Sora returns there, it would do much for the moral of the people," Yen Sid said. "On the other hand, many political groups would want to sway him to their side. I trust you have already declared your neutrality to the issue?"

Mickey nodded. "But Sora isn't experienced enough to be able to both declare himself neutral, and keep that promise. Neither would Riku be able to, and Kairi could get involved too, being a Princess of Heart from Radiant Garden. I'll warn Sora to not tell anyone that Riku has a keyblade. But it'll still be hard to do."

Yen Sid nodded. "I believe we have exhausted his conversation. Before you leave, I ask that you take this with you." He waved his hand slightly, and on his desk appeared an odd piece of metal. "Do you know what this is?"

Mickey frowned, and took it in hand. "A piece of armor...a shoulder guard, I think. Oh, like what _they_ used? Armor?"

Yen Sid nodded. "If it is necessary, I would wish you give it to Sora. It will protect him from the darkness, but do not give it to him too quickly. It would be better to leave our enemies guessing."

"Right, our..." Mickey trailed off, and did a small double-take. "There's somebody controlling the heartless?"

Yen Sid did not answer his question. He merely instructed his student to leave, and King Mickey had little other choice, leaving the office, the bronze armor piece in hand.

_August 3rd, Elrea(1), Destiny Islands..._

A storm blew powerfully across the small island. All of the island's denizens were inside, safe and warm. They were used to these tempests, their homes safe from the wind, but an unspoken rule that nobody ever, ever, _ever_, went outside, especially so close to dusk as it was. If you saw somebody outside during one of these storms, everyone except the most crotchety old person would allow them to come into their homes for the remainder of the storm.

The one woman who was outside during this storm had been given this offer three times already, but had turned them down each time to astounded looks, but she explained each time that her son was waiting at home for her.

She hadn't planned to go out in the middle of the storm. However, she'd gotten a call at six 'o' clock that evening from an older man who had helped her many times when she was trying to make ends meet as a single mother. One of his windows had blown out in his house, and a combination of both his age and his failing eyesight made it impossible to repair it. Her son has offered to go over and fix it, but she had assured him that she could handle it, before running out the door with a raincoat.

She had come and gone from his house, boarding up the window as fast as she could before braving the storm again, now even worse. And it was harder than before, as the river that separated the two halves of Elrea had flooded its banks, and more importantly the bridge that crossed it. The current was too fast for her to try and walk through, and so she had to take the second bridge far out of the way, closer to the ocean. She'd been given a lucky break with that. The water was lower, and she could still cross the bridge.

The rain made the cobblestones slippery, and she slipped at the very end of the bridge. "Ah!" she shrieked as she hit the ground, hard. She breathed deeply, still on her knees, when she heard feet slapping on the wet sand. Somebody offered a hand to her, and she took it gladly.

It was a man who had helped her up. Dark hair was plastered to his face. He was young, younger than her. He was maybe in his mid-twenties. Through the roar of the wind, and the crackle of the lightning, he shouted "What are you doing out here? Come with me, I'll get you somewhere safe!"

"I can't!" she shouted, but he cupped his hand around his ear. "I can't, my son is at home alone!"

He raised his hand in incomprehension, and pulled her over to one of the houses, beneath the edge of its roof. She said again "I can't come with you, my son is at home alone."

He nodded, finally hearing her. "I see, let me help you, please."

"Thank you, but it's alright, my home is only a few blocks away," she said. "And I can't be delayed any longer, Sora's probably getting worried sick."

"Sora? Your son?" The man smiled. Oddly, his smile made her feel almost uncomfortable. "Then you're Irina, aren't you?" She nodded, as she pushed the hair, a shade the same as her son's, out of her face. "I know your son, great kid."

"Thank you, I'll be sure to tell him you said that." Irina started to turn away, but he grabbed her by the shoulder, very tightly. His smile only became wider.

"Oh, no, he doesn't know me, but I've heard about some of the things he's done," he said. Irina knew all about Sora's adventures throughout the worlds, and so it became clear to her why she didn't know who he was. He was from another world. She didn't feel any more comfortable knowing that.

"Let go of my shoulder," she said stoically. She was afraid, indeed, but she had always been very strong and defiant.

"Yeah, about that," the man said. "I'm afraid that I've got plans for your son. You wanna know the first step in that plan?"

He came very close to her, to where Irina could smell his breath. A manic glint came into his dark eyes. He whispered two words to her, very soft, but she heard them very well.

"_Your death._"

The man grabbed her, one hand around her throat, one hand over her mouth, and pulled her back to the bridge. "_So long, farewell, auf wiedersen goodbye!_" he said in a sing-songy voice. As soon as he took his hand off her mouth, she started to scream, but only for a second, before he pushed her into the rushing water.

She tried to scream, but water filled her lungs. She tried to swim, but the current was too strong. Soon, it was impossible to do either, as she hit her head on a rock in the murky water. Blood spilled from the cut, and she felt her vision start to go black.

_No,_ she thought, as she reached the ocean and she began to sink into the murky water. _My son...he needs me, and I need him. Oh Sora, I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry._

Her tears were invisible in the brine. A final bubble of air escaped from her lips.

* * *

_(1) Elrea is the name of Sora's home island, as here, it's only part of an archipelago._

_A/N: That was unusually dark for a first chapter. And unusually short, I promise that the length won't be like this either, chapters will be far longer. I'm going to be trying to update this on Fridays, though once the school year starts I may have to change that to Saturdays. And once I get through my pre-written chapters, updates could be few and far between. But I won't stop writing it, and I won't be four months between updates, mkay? Reviews would be much appreciated!_


	2. A Fraction of His True Power

_Disclaimer: I don't anything except for, again, the 'mysterious man.'_

**Chapter 2: A Fraction of His True Power**

_August 10th, Elrea Cemetery, Destiny Islands..._

"...and though she has only one living kin, she shall be remembered forever in the hearts of her friends. So say we all."

"So say we all," repeated all those who had come.

The mood was dim. Rain fell slowly. A dozen people stood gathered together, all dressed in black. Some of the women were crying softly, while a few had clearly been sobbing earlier, their eyes red, sniffling still.

The priest looked to the young man in the front of the gathered people. Beside him stood his two best friends. "Is there anything you would like to say, Sora?" He nodded, and handed Kairi his umbrella. He stepped forward, and turned to face everyone.

He felt his pocket, knowing that he had prepared this on paper, but felt like he didn't need it. All of the words came openly. "I never really knew my dad. He died when I was only four, I can't really remember him. So it was always just me and my mom. She was the best anybody could ask for. Anytime I was sick, she stayed home and took care of me. If I got hurt, she'd make jokes until it didn't hurt anymore. She was amazing. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I realized how hard it was for her, supporting me by herself. I never knew how much she sacrificed for me. Spending time by herself, finding another guy that she loved." He shook his head sadly.

"There's only two people here who know how bad I feel about leaving this island for an entire year." He looked at Riku and Kairi for a moment, then continued. "My mom will be missed by many. But..." Sora took a deep breath. "...she wouldn't want us to be sad. She wouldn't want us to fall into grief. Because death is only the beginning of a new, a new-" He choked on his words, trying to keep going. He felt tears spring to his eyes.

Kairi stepped forward, and put a hand on his shoulder. Sora clenched his fist hard, and finished with "A new journey. We'll all see her again, one day."

_August 31st, Destiny Islands..._

The silence was almost deafening. The lights in the room were almost all out. Sora was leaning against the wall, trying to gather his thoughts, before the moment came. He looked over at the clock. Two minutes left.

He looked over at the others who were around him. Riku noticed his gaze, and nodded. Sora stood up, and stretched out his arms. _For everyone else, this is where it begins. But I guess this is the end for me._

"This is it," said Tidus, breaking the silence.

"Guess we should get going," Sora said. He and the five others came together into a circle. Sora, Riku, Tidus, Wakka, a red-haired girl named Ilia, and a bleach-blonde boy named Izzy.

"Alright, guys, what's our goal?" Tidus asked.

"Victory!" said the others.

"Alright! Let's go kick some Danae Shark butt!"

"Yeah!"

As they ran out of the locker room, they could hear the crowd's cheering growing louder and louder. The announcer's voice boomed through the stadium. "The first match of the High School Bliztball Season, between old rivals, this is the match to see! First, the Danae High Sharks, Goalie Bickson, Defenders Morgan and Naya, and Fielders Wedge, Biggs, and team captain, Shu!"

There was a combination whistles and boos from the audience, as the Danae Sharks came out. "And now, coming from a loss last year, maybe some fresh players on the team will help them win this time, the Elrea High Warriors!"

They came charging out of the hall as the announcer called their names. "Goalie Izzy, Defenders Ilia and Sora, Fielders Riku and co-captains Tidus and Wakka!" Cheers came from those who were from Elrea, and boos from those who lived on Danae.

Sora took a deep breath as he dove into the sphere pool. Not for the first time was he glad that the water in the pool was enchanted so that one could see clearly (along with extend the amount of time one could hold their breath). Destiny Islands wasn't without magic completely. He looked out, and saw Kairi, and Selphie sitting in the front row. He threw them a thumbs-up, and smiled when both gave loud whistles of encouragement.

Wakka gave a hand signal for everyone to get into position. Tidus got to the center of the sphere, with Wakka on his right and Riku on his left. Sora and Ilia were further back, and Izzy got into the goal.

The opposing players non-verbally taunted the Warriors. The referee looked to both Tidus and Shu, and they nodded. The referee threw the ball up, as the announcer called out "LET'S, BLITZ!

"And it's off to a fast, start, Tidus of the Warriors grabs the blitzball and swims towards the other goal, passes to Wakka-intercepted by Shu, Shu of the Sharks takes it back the other way, come on Defenders, stop him! Shu shoots for the goal, Ilia gets a hand on it, it'll be close..."

There was a roar as Izzy deflected the ball away from the Warriors' goal. "Nice job, Keeper! Sora grabs the ball and passes it up to Riku, I have never seen as good friends as those two, let me tell you, Riku passes down through the sphere to Wakka, Wakka heads for the goal-FOUL! FOUL! MY GOD, REF, ARE YOU BLIND!" There was slight static as somebody wrenched the microphone away from the announcer, but it was unheard over the sound of the supporters of Elrea groaning and shouting at the referee for not calling the foul on Wakka.

"Sorry about that folks, Morgan of the Sharks throws it to Biggs, Biggs kicks it hard straight up into Wedge's hands, Wedge-my god, this is something I've never seen from this boy, folks!"

Wedge punched the blitzball up, out of the sphere entirely, and came leaping out of the sphere at it. He flipped forward in midair, and brought his foot down onto the ball, sending it speeding straight for the goal.

"Can Izzy make the save from this shot..." A horn sounded as the ball landed in the Warriors' goal. Wedge landed back in the pool, and bumped fists with Biggs. "No, and the Sharks score. Score is 1-0, Sharks in the lead, at the two and a half minute mark."

Tidus gave a hand signal to the rest of the team for them to get the ball to him, and another for Defenders for them to, in his own words, 'get their butts in gear'.

The ball came back into play. "Biggs grabs the ball, passes down the sphere-and a clean interception by Riku! Riku swims hard toward the other goal, Naya goes to tackle him but Riku escapes from her tackle, nice try! Now where did Tidus come from? Never mind that, Tidus catches a pass, and pounds it at the goal..."

Cheers erupted from the crowd, with groans from the Danae Sharks' supporters. "There it is, an excellent comeback for the Warriors, score's tied 1-1, with a minute and a half to go in the half."

At the next one, Shu grabbed the ball, and avoided both Tidus and Wakka's attempts to tackle him. Sora got right in his way. Sora got a hand on the blitzball, and tugged for it. Shu pushed off of Sora, and kicked him in the head as he swam from Sora-by accident, of course.

Sora grabbed Shu's wrist, and heard the foul horn. He released Shu, and knew he would be getting either criticized by the coach afterwards, or clocked by Tidus at half-time for the stupid foul.

"There's a penalty shot for Shu of the Danae Sharks, foul on Defender Sora of the Elrea Warriors."

A few moments later, there were groans as Shu scored the penalty shot. The next minute of the half had no notable moments, and soon the half-time horn blew. Each team went to their respective locker rooms, soaking wet.

"Aight, guys, yeah, we're down by one, but I know we can win this," Wakka said, as Sora, Riku, Ilia, Izzy, and Tidus took seats. "Sora, next time you foul a guy, don't make it that obvious, ya?"

"Shouldn't I not foul at all?" Sora asked somewhat sarcastically.

"Hey, it's only cheating if you get caught," Riku said with a laugh.

"Yeah, yeah," Wakka said as he rolled his eyes. "Point is, stay confident, work hard, and I know we'll catch up next half. Tidus, you're up."

Wakka took his seat as Tidus stood up. "Just like Wakka said, moving on. We're switching it up in the positions next half. Wakka's taking goal, Izzy and Ilia are our Defenders. Sora, Riku, and I are gonna be on offense. Ilia, be aggressive. Sora, Riku, you guys got that shot figured out yet?"

"Uh," Sora said uncertainly. He looked at Riku, who shrugged. "Yeah, for the most part, yeah."

"I hope so, because we might be depending on that." He drew his right hand across his chest. "If I do that, it means go for the shot, got it?" They both nodded. "Alright, guys, we've got twenty-seventeen minutes, so rest up, so we can show those Sharks what we're made of."

"And the second half begins, looks like the Sharks are sticking to what they've got, but the Warriors have changed their positions. Wakka is in the goal, a far cry from his usual position but maybe they've got something in mind, and Sora, Riku, and Tidus are playing offense."

In the stands, Kairi and Selphie sat talking about the game. "Can't believe Tidus and Wakka put Sora on offense, he's kind of scrawny for it, don't you think?"

"Maybe, but he enjoys it," Kairi said with a shrug. "That's why I always got stuck playing keeper for them this summer. Boys will be boys." She laughed as Sora 'accidentally' hit the referee in the head with the blitzball. One of the many hazards of being ref; possible revenge for bad calls.

They stood up and cheered as Tidus made a quick goal only thirty seconds into the half, and groaned when the referee made yet another bad call, this time on Ilia for a perfectly legal tackle. Wedge missed the penalty shot by a mile, and Wakka threw it back in to Riku.

"Come on, Riku!" Kairi called, even though she knew he couldn't hear him. Kairi suddenly flinched, and grabbed her head. "Ah..."

"Kairi, are you okay?" Selphie asked in concern.

"I-I'm fine, I think," Kairi said. "Just a headache." She felt a sudden flash of cold, even though it was almost ninety degrees out.

"Are you sure? We could leave," Selphie offered.

"No, I'm fine, I promised them I'd watch the game," Kairi said.

In the sphere pool, as the three Fielders neared the Sharks' goal, Riku with the ball in hand, Tidus drew his hand across his chest. Sora and Riku both nodded.

Riku threw the ball to Sora, putting arc on the ball so that Morgan missed grabbing it by an inch. Riku swam so he was right above Sora, and went up as fast as he could, bursting through the upper surface of the sphere, ten feet out of the water. Meanwhile, Sora counted for timing, and threw the ball up.

_3...2...1..._ Riku counted down in his mind, and right on cue, there was the ball in front of him. He kicked it back down, and it ricocheted off of Morgan, back towards Sora, and Sora kicked it as hard as he could.

_Twilight Shot_, they both thought, and the ball went sailing untouched into the goal.

"A beautiful collaboration technique between Sora and Riku, the closest I've ever seen anyone to match the infamous Superbly Magnificent Jecht Shot Mark III, knocking out a defender in one shot, and the goalie is so stupefied the shot sails in perfectly! Warriors lead 3-2, and with thirteen seconds left!"

The Sharks made an attempt to set up another shot to tie it, but there simply wasn't enough time. The final horn blew, and the supporters of Elrea stood up and cheered. Sora swam to the top of the sphere, and breathed in deeply. He smiled as he sank back down, looking up through the water. Twenty feet away, Tidus and Riku were giving each other a high-five, Ilia and Izzy were hugging, while Wakka had already left the sphere.

Sora suddenly felt a premonitory shiver go through his body. _Something's wrong._

Suddenly, green creatures wielding lances appeared in the water. In the stands, more creatures appeared, but these ones were all black, with glowing yellow eyes. Screwdivers and Neoshadows. The Ultima Weapon appeared in Sora's hands, and as two of the Screwdivers came at him, he swiped at them, destroying each with a single stroke.

As the heartless ran rampant, the spectators panicked, trying to get away from them. Sora destroyed the few others Screwdivers that there were, before using a spell to push himself out of the sphere. Riku was already out, fighting Neoshadows while keeping an eye out.

Several Wyverns appeared, and one came right at Sora. "Thunder!" A burst of lightning vaporized the heartless. Sora swiped his hand through the air, and a Reflega spell came into being around Kairi as she was running out, just before a Neoshadow clawed her.

Watching Sora and Riku fight was a figure at the top of the stands. "Good God, how have they managed to survive so long? Paying so much attention to the people around them, they're distracted." He stood, and walked slowly down the stairs, naturally attracting the attention of Sora, as almost everyone else had gotten away.

"What are you waiting for, get going!"

The man took only one step, but nearly teleported at the speed he moved, going from half-way up the steps, to behind Sora in a split-second. "I don't think so." He flourished one hand, and a stream of water from the sphere came rushing out, bending around to hit Sora straight-on. He was pushed back twenty feet before the water dispersed.

Riku destroyed the final few heartless with Dark Aura, before running at the attacker, and brought Way to Dawn down hard. The man reached up and grabbed the Way to Dawn by its blade. He made no notice of the stream of blood which now ran down his hand. With his other hand, he grabbed Riku's neck, before disarming him. He threw the keyblade away, and magic gathered in his hand. He slammed his open palm into Riku's chest, and released him so he flew even further than Sora had.

"I really thought I'd meet more resistance than this from two of the few keybearers left in the universe. The great master of the Kingdom Key, Sora, and the master of Way to Dawn, the darkness-user Riku."

"You haven't even seen half of what we can do," Riku said, and winced in pain.

"Maybe not, but I have seen quite a bit, and heard even more. Sora's Drive Forms, capable of unleashing the true power of two keyblades...for about six minutes. Riku's mastery over the power of darkness...which he refuses to use beyond a weak shield or the occasional Dark Firaga, and only when there is no other option." He smiled. "One is weak, the other a coward. And of course, we can't forget about the useless princess! By the way, yes, I know that you're there, Kairi."

Kairi stood up shakily from behind the bench. She crossed her arms at the wrist, and took a deep breath. A faint green light appeared around her hands. "Cura!" Flower petals and green light showered over Sora and Riku, healing them.

"So, she knows magic now, that's a new development. However, I suppose you don't have a keyblade?"

Kairi said nothing to him, because he was right. She had tried repeatedly to summon a keyblade of her own, but the only time she could use one was when Riku produced the unnamed flowered keyblade for her. Sora had taught her magic, as demonstrated by her use of Cura, but even that was lacking in strength.

"Unsurprising." Electricity sparked around his hand, and he pointed at Kairi with his index finger. "I wonder if either of your friends would be willing to use the power of darkness if I killed you. What say you, Sora, Riku? Would you accept the darkness if I tore her heart out with my bare hands?"

"FIRAJA!" A long flame burst from the tip of the Ultima Weapon, straight at the man. Taken by surprise, he put his hand up to defend himself, only to grunt in pain as his entire right arm was burned up to his shoulder.

"Should have realized, how much potential you have. I won't make that mistake again," the man said. "But don't dare think that this is the extent of my strength." He grinned, and glowed with a black aura. With every step he took, darkness spread. Just as when Sora had first noticed him, he took a step and moved ten feet to just behind Sora. Before he could react, the man formed a sword of darkness, and slashed Sora across his back from shoulder to hip. Sora screamed as he collapsed to his knees.

"You son of a-" Riku unleashed a Dark Aura at the man, but a translucent shield protected him.

As the man backed into a Corridor of Darkness, he said "Let it begin."

* * *

_A/N: Hope this was okay...next chapter there's going to be a little more action, and not in the form of Blitzball as was this chapter. And the mysterious man will be given a name to his face._


	3. Return to Radiant Garden

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sora, Donald, Goofy, any of the Final Fantasy characters, or the two non-Disney or FF characters which appear in this chapter. Regret and Vanity were created by me, they are my OCs._

**Chapter 3: Return to Radiant Garden**

_September 5th, Radiant Garden..._

Sora awoke in a cold sweat. He glanced around, making sure he hadn't cried out in his sleep. If he had, then nobody had noticed. He pushed the covers away, and sat against the headboard of the bed that he'd been provided with. The clock read 3:13.

He, Donald, and Goofy had arrived in Radiant Garden the previous night at nine. By the time they reached Merlin's house, which had been magically changed so that the inside was about ten times bigger than the outside, it was past eleven, and so it had been Leon's judgment to wait until the following day to get down to business.

It didn't really matter, anyways, Sora hadn't been able to sleep through the night ever since the mysterious man had appeared in Destiny Islands. Almost any time he fell asleep, he quickly found himself plagued by nightmares. The content varied, but the man was always in it, taunting him.

With almost no chance of being able to fall asleep again, he grabbed his jacket, pulled on his gloves-one of which, he noticed to his dismay, had a rather large hole it it-and quietly left the house.

The night was quiet, but far from silent, with both natural and artificial sounds. Crickets chirped and owls hooted, while the claymores beeped and the street lights buzzed. Occasionally Sora heard the sound of footsteps, likely from one of the Restoration Committee members on patrol. As far as he could tell, the name was becoming more and more of a misnomer. In the year he had been gone, the town was nearly back to how it had once been so long ago, leaving restoration at the lowest priorities. Now, the more important part seemed to be protecting the town.

On occasion, a small heartless would appear. However, a claymore would instantly destroy it, instead of merely knocking it into the air like they used to. Added to the schedule that had been drawn onto a chalkboard in Merlin's house, with times and locations printed on it, it was fairly easy to figure out that the heartless had gotten worse.

Sora merely walked around the town for almost an hour. If a heartless ever appeared that the claymores didn't destroy immediately, he cast a small spell to eliminate it, never daring to draw his keyblade for fear it might attract more.

Around 4:30, Sora found one of the new members of the Restoration Committee doing rounds in one of the gardens. It was a young man, about Sora's age, wearing a lot of purple clothing and headphones. He had a strange color of hair, almost orange, and had several pins attached to his belt.

The boy, Neku Sakuraba(1), glanced at Sora, humphed, and turned up the volume on his headphones. Sora raised an eyebrow, but got the message. He walked off to see if anybody who had been on the committee the previous year was around.

He found one of them at the postern, Leon. The gunblade-wielder sighed when he saw Sora out and about. "Y'know, this place has a curfew," he said half-jokingly.

"Couldn't sleep," Sora said simply. "So, there's trouble around?"

"Nothing we can't handle. The curfew isn't just because of the heartless, it's more because of how new people are arriving in the town weekly." _Or daily,_ Leon added mentally.

"Wait, what? What do you mean, people are coming into town? Whatever happened to not exchanging things between the worlds?"

"The King didn't mention it to you in his letter?" Leon sighed. "Guess I don't blame him, you could have reacted without thinking. Sora-" He tried to find a way to put it more eloquently, but failed, and just said it straight. "Worlds are vanishing again."

Sora's eyes widened. "What! Why didn't he tell us, we needed to know!"

"He didn't tell you because he thought you'd react without thinking, just like I said," Leon muttered.

"I thought that all ended when Xehanort's Heartless and Xemnas were taken out! Who's doing it now, Maleficent?"

"Sora, calm down. No, it isn't Maleficent, we know that for sure."

"Then who is it, I need to know who's doing this!"

"Not now, you'll have to be patient. We can't explain it three times over, at least wait until morning when Donald and Goofy wake up."

"Tell me now, I'll tell them."

Leon pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Sora, how many hours have you slept each of the past few nights?"

"Why does that matter?"

"Just answer the question."

Sora shifted nervously on his feet. "Around...three hours."

Leon let out a low whistle. "Sheesh, nightmares or something?"

"Yeah, something like that..." Sora shook his head, trying to get back to the matter at hand. "But why does that matter?"

"You're not getting enough sleep, so when it comes down to it, you won't be able to fight," Leon said simply. "And of all of us, you're the most important when it comes to fighting the heartless."

Overhead, the sun started to peek out from the horizon, turning the dark sky red and yellow. _Here comes the sun, do-do-do-do, here comes the sun, it's alright,_ Sora found himself singing in his head. He mentally slapped himself.

A static noise came from the walkie-talkie on Leon's belt. Yuffie's voice, normally always excited but now nervous, came from the speaker. "Hey, Squall, are you anywhere near the great maw?"

"You know for a fact that I'm not, what is it?"

"Uh...heartless. Like, a lot of them."

Leon tightened his grip in frustration, and for a moment Sora thought he might break the hand-held. "How many is a lot?" He said through gritted teeth.

"Well, good question. I can't give you an exact number, but if I had to guess...around 4000. And growing."

"Dammit Yuffie!" Leon looked back at Sora. "Get over to the bailey, Yuffie will meet you there." Sora nodded, summoned his keyblade, and ran as fast as he could back towards the residential area.

_Meanwhile..._

Two people, a man and a woman, stood atop one of the cliffs near the great maw, watching the heartless march towards the town. The woman had golden eyes, and on her skin were markings like stripes. He hands had the appearance of claws. Her name was Vanity.

"Sir, if you please, why are we here? I'm so sorry, but the keyhole is unreachable. We cannot take it," Vanity said.

The man, clearly her superior, said "Perhaps so, but even then, the keyblade master is here. And after his hometown, it is the world which he treasures the most. Attacking it with the heartless will get his attention on all of us, not just myself. Do you understand my intentions now? The further he gives into hatred towards us, and grief towards his friends, the further into darkness he shall tread."

Vanity smirked at her master's plot. "Yes, Regret-sama, a brilliant plan."

Regret, as it were, laughed quietly. "Come now, it's simple, anyone would have thought of it. No, not anyone. Perhaps a few would prefer to simply kill him quick, he, the princesses, and all of his friends, but not me. I have plans for that keybearer."

_Below..._

Sora quickly realized how different these heartless were. Whereas normally they would only take a few strikes to get rid of, these had some sort of armor around them that was next to impossible to cut through. Others were simply huge, and hard to destroy.

Much of the Restoration Committee was fighting. Donald and Goofy had been roused from their sleep, and were now helping Sora in the way they always did. Goofy blocked attacks and knocked enemies towards Sora, while Donald healed and took care of any stragglers with his magic.

Even with the difficulties, Sora still felt better than he had in a while. He'd gotten so strong on his first two journeys that by the time he returned, Tidus and Wakka couldn't keep up with him, so he was used to only sparring with Riku all of the time, it got tiring. They knew each others moves so well that they could go at it blind-folded (they had, in fact, attempted to do so twice). But now, facing a real challenge in these heartless, he could finally let loose all of the tension that had been running through him for so long.

A bigger heartless wielding a broadsword came before Sora. The Ultima Weapon started to glow blue, and Sora felt power rising through him. His entire body was surrounded by a golden aura, and he flew at the heartless, attacking it at high speed many times over, landed, and let loose pillars of light, destroying the heartless.

"Where'd you learn how to do that?" Sora looked around, and saw that it was Rikku of the Gullwings who had said it.

Sora shrugged. "Just picked it up somewhere, I guess." While the start was his Trinity Limit, he had no clue where the finisher had come from. However, with the chaos raging around him, he couldn't let it distract him for long.

Even so, of all of the Restoration Committee, he was one of the few who was able to put a sizable dent into the army of heartless. After three straight hours of taking down heartless, Sora, Donald, and Goofy had destroyed, if he did his math right, five thousand, two hundred, and forty heartless.

While the heartless hadn't stopped coming, after the initial surprise, Leon had gotten a system going. Ground fighters went for an hour minimum, three hours maximum. Mages, both healing and attacking, stayed on the outskirts, casting their spells from high positions. Anybody who could move quickly was running items. Because it took a lot longer to train somebody to properly use magic that it did to teach them how to shoot an arrow or swing a sword, the number of warriors greatly outnumbered mages, so any medics had to use magic constantly until they could be reprieved, or they fainted from exhaustion.

Sora had learned all of this while taking a very short break. Donald and Goofy had convinced him to let himself be reprieved, and catch his breath. Despite that, he was still casting a Cure spell every once in a while on somebody who looked especially exhausted as they walked through Merlin's house.

"So, the people here have been trained like a militia force?"

"In a way, yes. However, those who wish to have a less brutal style of fighting, those who wish to help indirectly, learn from myself for Black Magic, and from Aerith for White Magic," Merlin said as he searched his bookshelf.

"It sounds like this isn't the first time that this many heartless have appeared," Sora said. "There's too many people trained to fight if that were the case."

Merlin sighed. "Yes, well, this is one of the largest amount of heartless yet. However, six months ago we were nearly destroyed by an invasion that went on over two days. Hoo boy, did everyone sleep after that one. It was after that that Leon decided that a more organized system would be required. While large-scale attacks didn't break out more than twice after that, it did help for morale."

"It made people feel safer because there were more people out there fighting. And the more people that fight the heartless, the less likely it is that anybody will get hurt, I've seen that a lot."

"Exactly. Along with the influx of beings from other worlds, and the return of-" Merlin cleared his throat abruptly, cutting off the rest of his sentence. "Yes, we've grown far stronger in the year you've been gone."

Sora nodded slightly. A thought, a terrible thought, came into his head. "Merlin? Can I ask you something about the people who have come here?" The old wizard nodded. "Did any of them, er, do you know if any of them are one of my friends?"

Merlin smiled, and shook his head. "No. None of the people who have come here come from a world you have been to."

Sora sighed in relief. "Thank God for that."

"Yes, in these desolate times, we must count our blessings and cherish each one," Merlin said.

_CRASH!_ came the sound of a globe toppling off of a shelf.

"ELRIC!" Merlin thundered in anger. "I told you to stay out of my house!"

A young man around Sora's own age came from behind the shelf. He wore a long red cloak, and had golden hair and eyes. Unlike the golden eyes that signaled that somebody had been stained by the darkness, his eyes were more annoyed than evil. "Shut it, old man, I'm just grabbing something."

Begrudgingly, Merlin said "Sora, meet Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist."(2)

"Alchemy? Like turning lead into gold, the elixir of life, that stuff?" Sora asked.

"Turning lead into gold where I come from is illegal," Edward said as he set down the giant book he had grabbed from one of the many shelves. "And there's no such thing as the Elixir of Life. The Philosopher's Stone exists, sure, and some people have tried to make themselves immortal through it, but it never works right. I'll say that it involves turning to dust, and leave it at that." He stuffed one hand in his pocket and picked up the book. "Later, whatever your name is."

"I'm Sora."

Edward had already slammed the door shut.

"What's eating him?"

"He comes from a world where magic is merely a myth, when it actually comes in the form of what he calls Alchemy. Manipulating the particles in a substance to change its form."

"Sounds a lot like science to me. Or something in between science and magic," Sora said. "Okay, so he's suffering from culture shock?"

"No, he came here seven months ago."

"Then what's he so mad about?"

"How should I know?"

"Right, guess you get along with him as well as you get along with Cid."

_One hour later..._

Sora, Donald, and Goofy continued to fight the heartless. However, this round of it, Sora was the only one fighting directly. Donald was helping check the barrier spells which were being used to protect the townsfolk, those too old, young, sick, or injured to help. Goofy was helping on patrol inside the borough.

This time around, Sora had been partnered with the boy who had been on patrol last night and had ignored the keyblade master, Neku Sakuraba. Sora soon discovered that no matter how anti-social he was, he was an amazing fighter. From what he could tell, he used the pins he wore on his belt to use psychic abilities. As they fought alongside each other, a glowing green orb passed between Sora and Neku. Every time one of them used a strong attack, it passed to the other, strengthening the attacks of whoever it was with at the moment. Neku had called it a light puck.

Flames chased across the gardens, immediately followed by spikes of ice. A sword of light appeared in Neku's hand, and he slashed around himself, destroying heartless at high speed. He was moving even faster than Sora was.

"Neku! They're gone. There's no more heartless for fifty yards," Sora exclaimed finally, when Neku hadn't stopped.

The young psychic glared at Sora, and snuffed out the light puck. "Dammit Leon. Why'd I have to get stuck with this guy," he said, loud enough for Sora to hear really well.

"Maybe because we're both really strong? You're both strong and fast, a rare combination. You can fight at both long and short range, and if you do get over-whelmed, you can get away from whatever you're fighting by warping. Meanwhile, I'm the keyblade master, with whatever abilities that may entail," Sora said sarcastically.

"Hmph." Neku walked off, searching for another group of heartless.

"Okay, I get it if something bad's happened to you, but that doesn't give you the right to bring everybody else down."

"And this is the part where you guilt trip me into telling you everything about my home, and how it was destroyed by the heartless, right?" Neku asked sarcastically. "Get out of my face."

"Hold on a second!" Sora started going after him, before being thrown back by a wave of psychic energy.

"No, you hold on." He held his arm out, and Sora was raised into the air, an invisible grip around his throat. "Back off." Neku held Sora in the air for a few moments, as the keyblade master tried to free himself somehow, before releasing his grip. Sora dropped to the ground, gasping for breath.

"Oh, come on, just a few seconds later and he would have been unconscious."

From the building in the midst of an older part of the city, a man jumped down, and landed on both legs and one hand. Dark hair hid his facial features. His right shoulder had spikes growing from it, and a single wing resembling that of a bat's grew from the right side of his back.

Sora's eyes widened as the man stood up. "You! You're the one who came to the island!"

"The name's Regret." He grinned maniacally. "It's been too long, Sora. I had only hoped to see you again."

Sora summoned the keyblade. "What are you doing here? And what's with..."

"Oh, this?" Regret gestured to his wing and spikes, which had been very much absent when he'd come to Destiny Islands. "I was suppressing my power when you saw me last. As for what I'm doing here, well, you heard about how the worlds are vanishing."

"You're the one doing it," Neku said, as his hands glowed with psychic energy.

Regret smiled. "Exactly."

"At least this time the big bad's decided to show himself early on. Not much for tradition, are you?" Sora said.

"Why shouldn't I show myself early? It won't make any difference what you know about me. You can't beat me, simple as that. Or did you forget what happened to you, Sora?" Regret said, referring to Sora being struck by the dark sword. Kairi had been able to heal him, but not after he'd lost a large amount of blood. Regret laughed at the expression on Sora's face at the fresh memory.

Neku charged at Regret, unleashing a stream of flames. Regret side-stepped it, grabbed the back of Neku's shirt, and threw him into a wall. Neku slid to the ground, and did not move. Regret turned back to Sora, and immediately put him on the defensive. Continuous magic spells barraged Sora, pushing him back even when he blocked them.

Regret threw his arms out, and roaring flames whipped around and above him, the tip changing into the shape of a dragon's head. It roared, and charged at Sora. "Wind!" A powerful wind came from the end of the keyblade, and while it barely held off the flame dragon, it also put a steady drain on Sora's magic. When the spell finally dispersed, after several long moments, Sora could have barely done a low-level spell.

"Earth." The ground beneath Sora shot up, vaulting him into the air. As he came back down, he didn't even get the chance to touch the ground as Regret blasted him straight in his chest. Sora was sent flying into a building. He raised his keyblade weakly to defend himself, but a Wizard heartless appeared, and cast Gravity with a wave of its staff, holding him stiffly against the wall.

"What the hell are you?" Sora said shakily.

Darkness filled Regret's palm. "Like you said. I'm the big bad."

"Watch it!" Before Regret could release it, a woman in a blue sari rushed in and knocked Regret's aim off with her staff. The dark orb was fired straight into the air. From her hand a swirl of water flew out and struck the Wizard heartless, freeing Sora. "Alright, looks like nobody's dead yet," she said. Sora noticed she had a slight Australian accent.

Regret looked at the woman with interest. "Now that's something you don't see every day," he said. "Probably with the Restoration Committee, correct?"

The woman smirked. A blurred white marking on her upper arm started to glow. "You better believe it." She brought her hand through the air, and a fog materialized from nowhere. Sora couldn't see an inch through it.

A hand grabbed him by the shoulder, and steered him through the fog. He was pushed forward, and the fog cleared entirely. From what little he knew about magic, he knew that it wasn't a real fog, summoned by somebody, but an illusory fog that only affected a certain area.

The woman came from the fog again, now pulling Neku along. "It was only the two of you, right?" Sora nodded. "Good."

"Wait, who the hell are you?" Neku said, tugging himself out of her grip.

She waited to answer his question until after she had dug out an elixir from...some pocket, and gave it to Sora. He nodded his thanks. "Oerba Yun Fang. Now, you need to hurry back now, before he dispels the fog."(3)

Neku went immediately, but Sora stayed for a second. "Wait, aren't you coming?"

"I'll be fine, just go," Fang assured him.

Sora hesitated, but eventually listened to her, and ran as fast as he could.

* * *

_(1) Neku Sakuraba is the main character from the game "The World Ends With You"._

_(2) Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, comes from, well, Fullmetal Alchemist. If anyone who reads this author's note is a fan of the series, this fic takes place after the final battle with Father, around 10 months afterwards. So, Ed has no alchemy._

_(3) Fang comes to us from Final Fantasy XIII._

_Did I mention that there will be a decent amount of non-Disney stuff in this? There will be plenty of Disney, however._

_Regret is voiced by Alessandro Juliani, who voiced L in the English dub of 'Death Note'._


	4. The Missing Room

_Sorry this took so long, but with tennis and school getting in gear, updates are likely to become very sporadic for a while._

_Disclaimer: I own Regret, Vanity, and the design for the Wraith Heartless. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and other characters belong to Disney. Edward Elric belongs to the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist. Cid belongs to Square Enix._

**Chapter 4: The Missing Room**

_"They're called Splices_," Leon had said after returning to Merlin's house, after Sora and Neku's encounter with Regret.

A shield of violet light appeared around Sora, deflecting the strike of the Zip Slasher before exploding apart. Sora cut down the heartless, and two more replaced it. He struck them down in even less time.

_"They're humans...but they're not. They bleed, we know that much."_

Goofy tackled a Shadow-one of the few they had seen, surprisingly-with his shield. It evaporated into darkness. Donald cast thunder spells at armored heartless, piercing straight through their defenses and destroying them.

_"You saw Regret. He's their leader. As far as we can tell, he plans to-"_

"Send all worlds into darkness," Sora said quietly. He unleashed streams of wind, knocking the remaining heartless down. Together, Sora, Donald, and Goofy destroyed them. "Nothing about Kingdom Hearts...yet."

"You okay, Sora?" Goofy asked. While they'd talked plenty from Destiny Islands to Radiant Garden on the _Highwind_, the keyblade master had been visibly distracted.

"Just thinking about what Leon said. About Regret, and the others," he said. With this area cleared out of heartless, he dismissed the keyblade and pulled out a small pouch he'd been given. He undid the drawstring, and pulled out one of the items contained in it. It was a crystal, of sorts. A miniaturized, artificial version of the Cornerstone of Light that lay in Disney Castle. The Keystone shone with its own internal light, glowing brightly even in Sora's hand. It was that light which could ward off both heartless and Splices.

"They can re-open keyholes. To think that this thing could protect one. Then again, two foot diameter could protect somebody from having their heart stolen if Keystones were easier to synthesize." Sora had been given fifteen Keystones in this pouch; it took around three weeks for a Moogle to create a single Keystone.

Sora replaced the crystal in the pouch, pulled the drawstring tight, and put it back in his pocket. "Better get going, the keyhole's not going to wait around forever."

A Keystone had long-since been placed at the keyhole of Radiant Garden (it had been through the original Ansem Reports that the Restoration Committee had been able to deduce where the keyhole had been), though it was still unsealed. With the number of heartless going down ever since Sora and Neku had met Regret, the trio had been asked to lock the keyhole, as an extra safety measure.

It had taken several minutes to explain to Sora that he hadn't yet sealed the keyhole, that it was an artificial keyhole to Kingdom Hearts he had sealed.

"What he said, Cid'll kick my ass if I'm not back soon," Edward Elric said. He had become an apprentice in both spear-fighting and gummi-building to Cid since coming to Radiant Garden, and while a decent teacher, Cid never had any patience. Edward had been volun-told to take Sora, Donald, and Goofy to the keyhole.

As they walked through the tunnels, Donald said "Isn't there something else botherin' you?"

Sora gave a non-committal grunt. "I guess...Riku, and Kairi. When we got that letter from the King, I thought it wasn't going to be something dangerous. I had no clue about the heartless growing stronger, or these Splices destroying worlds. Even after Regret showed up at the blitzball game, we didn't realize what kind of scale it was on. It was because of that I was able to get them to stay in Destiny Islands, but any more I'm not sure if it's safe any more."

"Chill out, your home's going to be fine, a Keystone's going to be sent there ASAP," Edward said in a bitter tone.

"If you're sure..." Sora pushed open the door to Ansem's study. It was as messy as ever, though some of the damage caused by Tifa searching it had been repaired. The hidden passage leading to the lab was wide open.

"Hm? That's...not supposed to be open," Ed said, as he walked through it, keeping a close eye out. Sora summoned the keyblade, and both Donald and Goofy drew their staff and shield respectively.

"The keyhole is beneath the Heartless Manufactory," Ed said quietly. "There's a whole other lab down there."

"How'd you find it?" Sora asked.

"Supposedly, it just came open by itself a little after you beat the guys in the black coats."

"Organization XIII."

"Whatever. Anyways, a bunch of files opened up on the computer over here, and that area was there as well," Ed said. He put in a key combination on the keyboard, and he walked to the other side of the computer room and looked out over the stairway. "Oh crap." Without a word to any of them, he ran down the steps and out to confront the person who had just appeared in the Heartless Manufactory through a Corridor of Darkness.

* * *

It was Vanity, the woman who had been with Regret as the battle had begun there in Radiant Garden. This time, she was alone. She smiled when she saw the Fullmetal Alchemist rushing down the stairs. He slid to a stop ten feet from the Splice.

"Get out," Ed said as he drew his lance.

"Any clue how I can get this thing working?" asked Vanity, as though Ed had said nothing at all.

"I'm talking to you, cat-girl, get out before I make you," Ed said fiercely.

"Amusing." Vanity made the first move, dashed at Ed and tried to claw him. He stepped to the side and brought his lance around to cut Vanity up her side. In streams of darkness, a pair of tonfa appeared in Vanity's hands. She hit Ed in the head with one, and brought both down onto his shoulders. She kicked the lance out of his hands. "You really don't know how to fight with a spear, do you?" Without turning to look, she brought her arm around herself to block a strike from Sora. "Not much for honor, either, attacking someone while their back is turned, and a woman at that."

"You're not even human, it's excused," Ed said as he snatched up his lance again. Vanity defended herself easily. "You deserve whatever comes to you." Sora and Ed both tried to land attacks on her, but Vanity went un-touched. She barely flinched when Donald cast Thundaga on her, and easily avoided being bashed by Goofy's shield.

"This is truly pathetic." Vanity jumped backward and dismissed her tonfa. "I should really kill you...but Lord Regret wouldn't be very happy if I did. Consider this a parting gift." She snapped her fingers, and a pillar of darkness erupted from the floor.

From it, a demonic creature appeared. It had the glowing yellow eyes and emblem on its forehead of a heartless. It was human-like in its proportions, but across its body were lines like muscle fibers, its flesh entirely black. Horns grew from its forehead and curled backward. It had no mouth. In place of hair, it had several tentacles growing from the back of its head. It carried a chain which alternated between silver and black links, swinging it in a circle at its side.

"Let this Wraith teach you a lesson," Vanity said darkly. A barrier appeared, blocking off both the exit and herself, and the Heartless attacked.

It went after Sora first, swinging its chain through the air. He ducked to the side and charged at the Wraith. He swung the keyblade, but the Wraith ducked under it easily, and the chain wrapped around his wrist. It pulled the chain taut, and white streaks of electricity chased down its length. As it struck Sora, the chain came undone, and he fell back onto his behind.

Ed, Donald, and Goofy went at the Wraith at the same time. Ed swept his lance through the air, Goofy attacked the Wraith with the edge of his shield, and Donald cast Firaga at it. The Wraith back-flipped to ten feet behind where it was, and Ed was hit by the Firaga, Goofy lost his balance, and Donald was hit in the head by Goofy's shield. Yelling words incomprehensible to those without subtitles, Donald furiously cast a powerful spell at the Wraith. "Comet!" A blue and white streak spurted from the end of his staff, homing in on the Wraith and striking it straight-on.

Before the smoke could even clear, Sora pushed off the ground, aiming to attack the Wraith while it was still disoriented from Donald's spell. He struck with a powerful, two-handed overhead strike.

Sparks flew through the air as the Ultima Weapon met the Wraith's chain, held tight with both hands. Had it a mouth, Sora would have sworn it would have been grinning. Comet being one of Donald's strongest spells, it should have given some damage to the heartless, if not left him ready to deliver the final blow. But to survive it easily...

The Wraith whipped its chain around, and pulled the keyblade out of Sora's grip, tossing both chain and blade across the floor. The Wraith braced its feet, and flames began to form in its hands. In the right, black and violet fire. In the left, against all reason, white and gold flames. The heartless pushed both handfuls of fire forward at Sora. They twisted through each other, turning into a silver stream of fire. It caught Sora straight in his chest, and threw him back against the barrier.

"Aw, did the mean little heartless hurt you?" Vanity taunted in a voice a normal human being would reserve for a baby. Sora didn't even spare her a glance as he summoned the keyblade back to him.

Edward, despite being burned worse than Sora from Donald royally screwing up, raised his lance again, and called out to the Wraith "Hey, pick on somebody your own size!"

The Wraith actually had a full three inches on Ed, but that got its attention as he had intended. It picked its chain up again, and threw one end forward in a manner similar to a rope dart. Ed batted it away, and charged at the heartless. With both hands, he struck its shoulder, and it countered by striking him with a spell best described as Twilight Thundaga.

It struck him on the side of his chest opposite his heart. Edward didn't give an inch. The Wraith struck him fast with its bare hands, breaking at least two ribs. Ed couldn't use his lance, as he didn't have nearly enough room, so he did the natural thing. Round-house kick to the face. The Wraith staggered in pain.

The Wraith grabbed the ankle of the foot that had kicked it (the left one, to be exact). It twisted hard, and Edward yelled out in pain. It released him, and he dropped to the ground. Had it a mouth, the Wraith would have cackled. Electricity gathered in its palm, ready for the kill.

"Heh." Edward grinned, and took his lance in hand. "Psyche." With both hands, he stabbed the Wraith through the chest, putting most of his weight on his supposedly-broken left ankle.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy didn't question how Ed was still able to move, after being burned, electrocuted, and having several bones broken. With the Wraith pinned, Goofy struck it in the head with his shield and Donald cast the highest-level thunder spell he could muster. Once Ed was out of the way, Sora struck the Wraith with three fast slashes, leaving behind streaks of light in the air for a moment. The Wraith collapsed to the ground, and burst apart, releasing its captive heart into the air.

"Impressive, though I still don't know how you can move," Vanity said, the last part while looking at Edward. He was holding his lance, and looked ready to take on Vanity, steaming mad. "Well, it'll be interesting to see how long you survive. Ta-ta!" A dark corridor appeared, and she backed up into it.

"Get back here, don't you run away!" Ed shouted, soon only to empty air. He clenched his fist tightly around the shaft of his lance. He yelled in frustration as he threw it across the floor. "Damn it...can't even beat somebody like that after I beat Father..."

Sora didn't have any clue who 'Father' was(1), though he pushed that out of his mind for the moment and said "Calm down, Ed, sure she ran, but that doesn't mean we couldn't have beaten her."

"You don't understand," the former alchemist said, turning away from Sora and to the almost-closed hatch on the ground. He put his hand on it, and two panels slowly started to open, to reveal a ramp, then a twisting stairwell that must have gone a hundred feet down at least. "Keyhole's down here. Hurry it up."

"Hold on," Sora said, as he started digging out a potion. He passed it around, everyone taking a sip and Donald healing the worst of injuries. Ed started to argue, but quickly resigned to the fact that he had to deal with having magic cast on him.

"So what's up with your leg? It should be broken but you're walking around fine," Sora pointed out.

Edward hesitated, before sighing. He pulled up his left pant leg, revealing metal. "Automail. Type of prosthesis where I come from. Lot more durable than a human leg. Are we good to go?" With no arguments, they started down.

Donald and Goofy succeeded in getting down the steps first, as Goofy tripped over himself, falling into Donald and sending them both all the way down. As Edward and Sora walked down the stairs, Ed raised an eyebrow.

"You seriously travel around with those two? And you don't get called freaks everywhere you go?"

"Well, I never said we _weren't_ called freaks," Sora said, and laughed slightly. Edward evidently did not find it funny. "Seriously, did that Splice do something to you?"

"She destroyed my home, Amestris," Ed stated flatly. "I saw her with my own eyes. My little brother, Alphonse. Winry. May. Ling. All of them, gone, and I couldn't do a thing about it."

"I wouldn't say that's for sure." Sora stuck his hands in his pockets. "My world was taken by the darkness the first time, two years ago. Both of my best friends, Riku and Kairi, survived the destruction of the islands. Maybe some of your friends survived too, taken to other worlds."

"Don't even try it. I know your story. Riku used darkness to travel to another world. Kairi went into a coma in the process. Fat chance anyone I cared about is alive."

"You never know, maybe you'll be lucky."

"There's no such thing as being lucky," Ed said. "That's for the superstitious. I'm a scientist."

"I thought you were an alchemist?"

"Same difference."

"Well, whatever you are, there's more than just science out here. Sometimes, you need to believe something can happen for it to happen. Besides, being cynical isn't healthy."

Ed snorted. "If you think I'm going to become a wide-eyed idealist like you are, keep believing, but it's never going to happen."

"Hey, I may be a wide-eyed idealist, but I'm a wide-eyed idealist who's taller than you are."

Ed became steamed instantly. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL YOU COULD CRUSH HIM LIKE A BUG!"

"Wait, I didn't say-" Too late, Ed had kicked Sora hard enough to send him flying down the rest of the steps.

* * *

The tip of the keyblade glowed. Light swirled around it, and swam around the keyhole. With a _click_, the keyhole closed, leaving only the blank wall. The Keystone there shined brightly.

"Let's get out of here already," Donald grumbled, for the umpteenth time expressing his dislike of these passageways. There was a certain tension in the air, as though something were about to open one of the doors and jump out at them.

"Give me a second," Sora said. While he couldn't say that he liked it down there more than Donald, something had drawn his eye. "Ed, do you know what that door is down at the end of the hall? The big one without a window?"

"Hm?" Ed, Donald, and Goofy all looked down to the end of the hall, and Ed raised his eyebrow.

"The only one that isn't chained up," Sora said. It was twice as tall as he was, and three times as wide. For some reason he couldn't explain, he felt drawn to it, like a part of him really needed to find out what was in that room.

"Uh, Sora?" Goofy said in concern. "What door?"

"The big one."

"Well, I got no clue what he's talking about," Donald said impatiently, turned around, and started walking back in the direction of the entrance.

In frustration, Sora stormed to the end of the hall, and put his hand on the door.

"That's a blank wall," Ed deadpanned.

"I'm telling you, there's a door here," Sora said. "But if only I can see it..." He jumped back, summoned the keyblade, and pointed it at the door despite his friend's (and Ed's) protests. The Ultima Weapon glowed momentarily, and the door slid open sharply, drawing gasps.

Within was a large, round room. The floor, walls, and ceiling were dark gray. A throne with its back to the door stood just off-center. From the base of the throne were chain-like designs stretching across the ground, up to the walls. The Nobody emblem was placed on several spots in the walls.

Sora walked slowly into the room, putting one hand on the side of the throne as he went around it. His eyes widened. "Whoa."

"What is it?" Goofy asked, as he and Donald came forward as well.

Laying on the ground in many pieces was a suit of light blue armor. And next to the armor, its point stabbed into the ground, was a keyblade. The guard was circular and gray. The shaft and strike zone were a gray-blue color. The keychain was shaped like a rain drop.

"Who do ya think it belongs to?" Donald asked unsurely.

"Heck if I know," Sora said. He dismissed his own keyblade, and stepped over to the blue keyblade. Grabbing the keyblade, he pulled it out of the floor with a strong tug.

_"Mm? What..."_

He raised it up, and it didn't vanish from his grip.

_"Erase me."_

"Rain Storm. That's its name."

_"Tell me why he picked-"_

Sora closed his eyes, and a wave of emotions swept over him.

**_Two Hours Later, Elrea, Destiny Islands..._**

The sun was beginning to set over the horizon. The final bell had long since rung, and homework was done for the day. Kairi stood on the end of the dock, looking and thinking to herself. She turned her head half-way as she heard footsteps on the wood. Riku came up beside her with his hands in his back pockets.

"Did you-"

"Yeah," Riku answered automatically.

Kairi nodded. "For a moment, I felt so sad. It was like, I can't even describe how it felt."

"Like there was nothing left in the world. There's nobody left you can trust. All of your friends are gone," Riku said. "Felt like that often enough a year ago." He felt a pang in his heart, as he often did when he recalled the period when Kairi was left on Destiny Islands, Sora asleep, and himself bound within the darkness.

"But it wasn't either of our sadness. Do you think, maybe, something happened to Sora?"

"I don't know," Riku admitted, "but he's out there somewhere being the hero again. The least we can do is trust him."

**_Radiant Garden, 3rd Street Apartment Building, Room 301._**

He stepped inside, shut the door, pulled out a key. His shaking hands fumbled it at first, and it dropped to the ground. "Damn," he muttered as he picked it up again, and locked the door, before turning around.

The apartment was only a bedroom and a bathroom. The floor was old wood, and the walls were a dull gray. A few posters hung up on the walls. The bed was un-made, and the light bulb of the lamp was burnt out. A generous amount of duct tape had been used to repair a cracked window. A bright red frisbee, of all things, sat on the floor. The apartment was old, but dirt-cheap to rent.

He unbuckled his belt and slid the sheath off of it. He threw the belt across the room, and slid his sword partway out of its sheath. The name _Flametongue_ was written in curling writing. When magic was channeled through the blade, the metal turned red, and fire streaked along its edge, but now it was nothing more than a normal sword. The young militiaman had been given the sword the first day he'd volunteered, after showing up with nothing more than his street clothes and an old steel sword. He started to draw the sword the rest of the way out to go through forms, but changed his mind, being too tired and too distracted.

He sat down on the edge of the bed, and put one hand to his forehead in thought. _I don't understand, how can this be real...and why now, of all times, why did I have to remember!_ He slammed his fist against the bed in frustration.

_Sproing!_ A spring popped out of the ancient mattress an inch from his hand. "Son of a-"

**_The Dark Meridian._**

Unlike a real ocean, the water was almost silent at the Dark Meridian. There was no source of light, and yet the two people who sat at the edge of the darkness could be seen quite clearly.

One, an old man with blonde hair, who wore a black coat identical to those worn by Organization XIII. It protected his heart from the darkness, but it wouldn't be long before that no longer mattered, as his memories were slowly leaving him. Even now, he was only a shade of his former self. Ansem had been flung to the Dark Meridian when the Kingdom Hearts Encoder had failed. A few people would say that it was a gift, to survive certain death. But most people, if Ansem were to mention his theory it was his punishment for playing God with people's lives, would clear their throats and turn away, not agreeing or disagreeing.

The other was far younger than Ansem. Her hair was an unnatural blue, and her eyes were the same color. She wore a black halter top and skin-tight shorts, and on her arms she had detached sleeves with a piece of armor on each arm. Pieces of blue cloth tied around her waist and draped down each of her hips. Her boots were armored. At her side, on the sand, was a gray keyblade.

Aqua was yet unaffected by the darkness, visibly at the very least. She was looking out at the horizon, deep in thought. Ansem had told her everything he could remember (which wasn't much), and she was trying to make sense of the small story fragments.

She felt a shiver, like a premonition. "Somebody's walking on my grave," she said quietly. A light entered the bottom edge of her vision, and she stood up, looking now at the very edge of the water.

As the glowing cleared, and the tide pulled out, Aqua saw a blue crystal about the size of her hand, shaped like a star. She carefully picked it up and looked at it closely. "Ansem? I think you should see this..."

**_The Chamber of Repose, Ansem's Lab, Radiant Garden._**

Sora opened his eyes. He changed his grip on the Rain Storm, so he could better see the rain drop-shaped token. _Sadness...grief...and sleep._ He looked up at Donald, Goofy, and Edward. He tried to search for words to describe it, for finally settling upon "Things just got a little more complicated, I think."

* * *

_A/N: Vanity is voiced by Julia Fletcher, who voiced Yunalesca in Final Fantasy X._

_(1) The main villain in Fullmetal Alchemist, upper-case 'F'. Not actually his father._


	5. 71

_I know, it's a miracle, I actually updated! And just to make a note here, due to the fact that Birth By Sleep came out in America since the last time I updated, a few things I've mentioned before having different names; most notably Aqua's keyblade "Rainstorm" is called "Stormfall", and Ven's keyblade "Fresh Breeze" is called "Wayward Wind". Just, yeah, something I wanted to mention._

_Disclaimer: I own only Davin Noire. All other characters belong to either Square Enix or Disney._

**Chapter 5: 71**

_September 5th, 7 'o' clock, Radiant Garden._

From the chamber, Sora took only the Stormfall. Ed left them at the town square to go see Cid, leaving Sora, Donald, and Goofy to head over to Merlin's house.

Sora shut the door, and made a show of stabbing the tip of the Stormfall into the floor. Yuffie raised an eyebrow. "This isn't my keyblade. We found it and a suit of armor in a hidden chamber beneath Ansem's lab."

"Tron dug up a blueprint of the lab that included that hall, how was it hidden?" Leon asked skeptically.

"Only Sora could see it at first, until he opened it with the keyblade," Donald said.

"Oddly enough, I've seen things weirder than that in the past year," Yuffie said seriously. "Like that time Neku was attacked by a-"

"Don't! Even," Neku said warningly. "We swore never to speak of that again."

Leon ignored them. "So, a keyblade without an owner and an empty suit of armor. Somebody will take a look at that later, maybe the armor could be of use..."

Sora considered mentioning that he didn't think the Stormfall was owner-less, but pushed that to the back of his mind as he looked over to the dry-erase board on the wall. Besides the patrol schedule, there was a number printed largely in red, with a circle around it. The number was 66.

"Right...what's 63 mean?" Sora asked as he looked from the board to Leon. The de-facto leader of the Restoration Committee looked up from cleaning the Revolver. He looked to the board as well, and his expression grew grave. When he did not answer, Sora looked to a few other committee members that were in the house. Neku was glaring at Sora, as though he'd said something impolite. Yuffie and Tifa both looked sad. Merlin was turning the pages of a book, avoiding all eye contact with Sora.

"Ah...never mind," Sora said, shrinking back from the expressions he was getting. "So, um...how's the heartless situation?"

"It's cooled down by a lot since you and Neku confronted Regret," Leon said, tearing his eyes away from the board.

"Wonder what the chances are he knew that the 'keyblade master' was here?" Neku said in mock-thoughtfulness.

"Neku, would you stuff it already!" Yuffie snapped.

Neku held up his hands in surrender, scowling.

Leon shook his head, and muttered something incomprehensible. "I have to go see the council. Neku, go see if Aerith needs any help at the hospital, I want Yuffie working the radio, Tifa assist her. Merlin?"

"Of course, of course," Merlin said, further digging through his books. Leon nodded, and left them. Yuffie came over to where Leon had been sitting and started adjusting the dial on an old radio.

"How am I supposed to help you work the radio?" Tifa asked.

Yuffie shrugged. "You could always stand on the roof of this place with the antennae. What's the news frequency?"

"AM 1200." Dance music started playing. "Um...how about AM 1300."

There was static for a moment. "...such a number of heartless for months. It's estimated that there may have been as many as 20,000 heartless invading Radiant Garden today."

"How depressing," Tifa said somberly.

"Quite so," Merlin said, "which is why I would request your assistance for training Sora."

"What training?" Sora asked.

"Magic, of course. Leon believes you are ready to learn higher-tier spells, something along the lines of what Donald knows," Merlin said. Donald snorted at this, still of the opinion that his magical skill was better than Sora's would ever be. "Having a live opponent would be somewhat more realistic than casting spells at some of my furniture."

"Sounds good," Sora said with a nod. Merlin waved his wand through the air, and he, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Tifa were transported into the training area in the attic of his house.

It was very similar to the one he had once had above his house in Traverse Town, with the exception that it was far larger.

"So, what's my job here?" Tifa asked as she pulled on her gloves.

"You will attack, Sora, you must fend her off while only using magic," Merlin said. "Once you can show me that you are capable of consistently casting magic without using the keyblade as a conduit, then we will move on to other spells."

Sora nodded, and a barrier went up. For a moment, he questioned why, then remembered exactly how much damage Tifa managed to do to Ansem's office in the space of a few minutes. He brought his own hands up.

"Begin!"

Tifa rushed Sora and immediately landed a pair of punches on him. He rolled to the side. "Burn!" A burst of flames flew at Tifa, but she avoided them easily. "Freeze!" Ice crystals flew through the air, only for Tifa to jump over them, come down and slam her fist into the floor, the resulting shockwave knocking Sora off his feet.

"Stop! Stop I say, this is ridiculous," Merlin said, and the barrier was dispelled. "You are too used to battling the unthinking heartless, why do you think that magic rarely worked on the Nobodies? A thinking opponent can easily see through a straight-forward magical assault." Sora blinked in mild confusion.

Donald sighed exasperatedly, before coming over to Sora and whispering something in his ear. His eyes widened slowly as he came to a realization. "Oh! I'm not being creative enough! Why didn't you just say that, Merlin?" Donald snickered at out-doing Merlin in teaching.

"Very well then, once more," Merlin said, re-creating the barrier. "Begin."

Sora made the first move this time. "Thunder!" A burst of electricity was loosed at Tifa. She side-stepped it, only for Sora to cast Reflect, rebounding the lightning so it struck her from behind. She shook it off, and swept her leg beneath Sora...until he suddenly wasn't there.

"Hey! Up here!" Tifa looked up, and Sora was standing on the ceiling, surrounded by a light violet aura. He'd turned the gravity spell on its head, literally. "Aeroga!" A powerful gust of wind focused on Tifa, leaving her unable to move for a moment.

Sora descended to the ground. "Ice!" It froze the floor, and Tifa's feet to it. It took her a few moments to break the ice, just enough time for Sora to charge a powerful fire-elemental spell. It formed into an orb, and he let it loose. It hit Tifa and exploded spectacularly.

"Tifa!" Sora said in alarm, and rushed over to her. He hadn't meant to make it so strong, and something like that could really hurt somebody. As the smoke cleared, he saw that she was on the ground, bruised and slightly burned, but not too badly hurt. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Heal!" A shimmering golden flower appeared over her head and sprinkled its pollen on her, healing most of the burns. Sora offered her a hand up. She grabbed his hand and flipped him back over her so he landed flat on his back.

"Don't ever let your guard down," Tifa said tauntingly, brushing the dust off of her hands.

Donald and Goofy were laughing at Sora, while Merlin looked quite satisfied. "It appears you've managed to use another form of Fire magic."

"Yeah," Sora grunted as he pushed himself off the ground. "Cool. Now new magic? One that doesn't involve Tifa pummeling me?"

Speaking of which, Tifa turned around and kicked Sora in the stomach, knocking him across the practice room hard enough to create an indent in the wall. "When did Merlin ever say that we were done?"

_2 Hours Later..._

The cabinet had been completely reduced to a pile of ashes. Sora spun the keyblade in his grip, before dismissing it in a show-off way. "That, I can't wait to use against some heartless."

"Just remember, it's far more difficult to use on a moving target. And practice makes perfect," Merlin said. He started digging around in his pockets. "However, I cannot deny that you have made extraordinary progress. Consider this a reward...if I can find it...aha!" He pulled out a charm on a string. Sora took it in hand and examined it. The charm was yellow, and shaped like a feather.

"Oh, a summon charm! Thanks!" Sora tucked it into a pocket. He took a step, and heard a _clink_. He looked down at the floor, and raised an eyebrow. The summon charm was now on the floor. He stuck his hand all the way through his pocket, and found that there was a very large hole in it. "Aw, man..." He picked the charm back up and put it into another pocket. He checked one of his pockets, and sighed in relief. Kairi's Wayfinder was still where he had put it.

A sudden _thump_ came from beneath them. Yuffie's muffled voice came through the floorboards. "THERE'S A REALLY BIG BUG DOWN HERE!" When nobody responded, she hit the ceiling...floor...whatever harder. "SOMEBODY COME AND SQUISH IT! IT'S REALLY BIG, AND IT'S FLYING!"

"She's not gonna stop until somebody gets it for her," Donald said matter-of-factly, though he didn't volunteer for it.

"Fine, I'll do it," Sora said after another minute had passed, Yuffie continuing to hit the ceiling. Merlin waved his wand, transporting Sora downstairs.

Imagine his surprise when he saw no bug, but instead Yuffie, Aerith, the Gullwings, Uncle Scrooge, and Donald's nephews jumping out and crying "SURPRISE!" Cloud was sitting in the back of the house, looking ashamed that he had agreed to come.

A wide smile spread across Sora's face-especially at the sight of a few wrapped boxes with bows. "Thanks, guys! But...my birthday isn't for like two months."

"Consider it a sixteenth birthday instead of seventeenth," Yuffie said. "Since you'd already gone home when you hit sweet-sixteen last year."

Merlin and the others appeared as well, having obviously been in on it. "Aerith came up with the idea a few hours ago," Tifa said.

"I just thought it might be nice to lighten the mood a little, after today," Aerith said modestly.

"You're awesome, thanks." His eyes kept on going back to the presents. Yuffie caught his gaze, and threw him the largest one. The tag read in sloppy handwriting "From Cid, Squall, and anybody else who forgot to get you a present." Sora could only guess which hyper-active kunoichi had written it.

Sora quickly tore the gift wrapping off, and pulled off the lid. "...Clothes. Thanks." He pulled out part of the outfit, and saw that it was sort of like his current clothes, but slightly different in design. He'd try it on later.

From Merlin, he got a book of spells wrapped in brown paper tied with a string. Turning the pages slowly, he saw that it had moving pictures illustrating the spells, and a lot of it was combat-oriented, but there were other types of magic.

Uncle Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, and Louie gave him two large boxes of sea-salt ice cream bars, with ice packs in them that would never grow warm so the ice cream wouldn't melt.

Yuffie gave him a pouch that was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside, and could hold almost all of the items he would ever need.

From the Gullwings he got a ring with an ocean-blue stone in it. They assured him that they'd earned it honestly, but he wasn't so sure. Even so, he slipped it on his left hand. The gem twinkled in the light.

Tifa gave him a new pair of fingerless gloves-"I noticed yours were pretty worn out, and I can promise that these ones won't tear or burn."

Cloud didn't even wrap his present, and was berated by Yuffie for it. He ignored her. It was a sword-belt, adjustable so he could fit it either around his waist or over his back. Though he didn't need it with the keyblade working how it did, Sora still thought it was pretty cool.

Finally, Aerith handed him a small white box. Sora pulled the bow off, and opened it. Inside was a blue gem, about the size of his hand. On it was a stylized lily. "It's called a Seer Eye, or else, a seeing stone. They only work in pairs, but you can use them to communicate from anywhere, even across worlds."

"That answers the cellphone problem," Sora said, as he'd quickly noticed that his phone got no reception.

Aerith smiled. "I have the other one at the moment, but no matter what, somebody in the committee will have it. Just speak into it, and it will activate its magic. If I or somebody else uses the other one, yours will grow warm."

"Got it," Sora said, turning over the seeing stone in his palm. "Thanks a lot, Aerith, for all of this. Both the stone, and the party." He smiled. "Guess that's everyone, then."

"I think you're forgetting somebody," Aerith said, pointing to Donald and Goofy. Goofy was holding two different gifts.

"The King asked us to give ya the one, and the other's from us and Jiminy," Goofy said, handing both to Sora. Both were vaguely book-shaped, one with blue wrapping and the King's seal on a card, and the other messily wrapped with a very large knot of scotch tape on the top of it. Sora resisted the urge to laugh, and Goofy h'yucked. Donald rolled his eyes. Apparently, feathers weren't the best instrument for wrapping a present. Sora started picking apart the tape knot.

"Hold that thought!" Yuffie was adjusting the radio's volume dial. "Come on, Squall's on the radio!"

"Took long enough, what held them up?" Uncle Scrooge asked rhetorically. They crowded around the radio, with the exception of Cloud, who had slipped out the moment the opportunity had presented itself.

Sora didn't register that during all of the excitement, the number 63 on the board had been changed to 66.

Yuffie turned up the volume. "...just tuning in, we at AM 1300 are now broadcasting from the courthouse, in the first time it has been used in 11 years, for an appeal to the Radiant Garden People's Council by Squall 'Leon' Leonhart, leader of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee, considered by many to also be the leader of the town militia. The recess is now ending, and the Council is now taking their seats."

"What's the appeal for?" Sora asked, and was immediately shushed.

"_My fellow citizens of Radiant Garden, denizens of the Realm of Light,"_ came Leon's voice over the radio. "_It has been over two months since we have had an invasion of heartless on the scale that we had today. I wish to be frank; this isn't working._"

_He sounds so formal_, Sora thought. _Doesn't sound right for him._

"_We have made little progress politically in the past year, if only because of the instability left from Xehanort's Heartless and Organization XIII's wake. But to expect to be able to be protected by a minimally trained militia? Councilmen and women, I have been fighting the heartless for almost twelve years now. In Traverse Town, alongside Yuffie Kisaragi, Aerith Gainsborough, and Cid Highwind, it was simple. The town was so much smaller than Radiant Garden, and only required us to defend it. But here we need hundreds of souls to defend the people. The militia is disorganized. There isn't nearly enough battle healers, and those we have continue to keep going even when about to drop dead."_

_Radiant Garden Courthouse._

In the courthouse, Leon curled his fingers, and looked the councilman in the center straight in the eye. "High Councilman Adel, I'm sure you can identify with what I speak of." Adel Summers froze. If one looked close, they could see that his eyes were red, and in one hand, he gripped a necklace. "I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter. She is truly a hero."

"Get on with your point, Mr. Leonhart," said the woman to the right of Adel sternly.

_Least I didn't get kicked out for trying to get some emotion from him_, Leon thought. "She didn't need to be a hero, though, nor the countless others.

"By the word of the law, I have absolutely no power. Common birth, a soldier. The only reason I could come here today is because I have the support of many people behind me. So I implore you, People's Council of Radiant Garden, prevent more people for being lost for our cause, and re-build the Guardian Corps."

There were a few gasps from the council, and many widening eyes, gasps, and a few blinks of confusion (mostly from Sora and children who hadn't been born yet during the old age of Radiant Garden) from listeners at their homes.

"How would you suggest we do that, Mr. Leonhart?" asked Adel. "We have no resources, no teachers. Would you re-build the sky fleet as well of only Gummi Ships?"

"There's some offshoots in the Cavern of Remembrance that has high-quality metals. As for the sky fleet, at this very moment Cid Highwind is completing construction on his airship, the Shera, which he assures me it is fit to be a flagship. For teachers, there's the Restoration Committee, and that also leads me to my next point.

"I believe we should open our borders. Make the fact of our existence known to other worlds."

Nobody had to worry about the world order being disturbed, as the council immediately broke into fevered discussion, objecting to this proposal. Leon swore under his breath. Aerith and King Mickey had both advised him against bringing up the subject of opening the borders, in the King's case not only because of the world order. Only the most radical people thought that they should open the borders, and they were few and far between. Unless he was very lucky, his entire appeal would probably be thrown out.

As he was being berated by the woman on the right of Adel, Ilia Connors, the door of the courthouse flew open. A man in combat gear came running in short of breath. The room grew silent. He bowed to the council, and saluted to Leon. "Mr. Leonhart-"

"Just Leon is fine."

"-yes, Leon, sir, I apologize to you and the council, but Davin requested this be brought to you immediately." He held out an envelope to him, held by a wax seal depicting a stylized lily.

"The commander of the militia," Leon muttered as he took the message. Davin Noire was the same age as Leon, and had been in Traverse Town. It was there that he became inspired by Leon's bravery in fighting the heartless, despite being only a teenager, and upon returning to Radiant Garden he did the best he could to organize the militia. There were two major differences between the two. Leon was a born leader, while Davin was born noble, as indicated by the seal.

Leon broke the seal, and unfolded the letter. He read it quickly. "No..." he said quietly.

"May you share the contents of this letter?" asked Ilia Connors.

"I...yes." Leon took a deep breath. "'Leon, I'm sorry to interrupt your appeal, but you did say to keep you updated. Shortly under an hour ago, several members of the red squad were admitted to the hospital with severe burns. Though the doctors did everything they could, four passed on soon after being admitted, and a fifth was lost mere minutes ago.

"'Please see me as soon as you can. Davin.'"

Sobs came from the stand. Ilia was shaking. Two of her sons were in the red squad.

Leon folded the letter back up, and muttered a few words beneath his breath. He leaned closer to the microphone. "Got it, Yuffie?"

_Merlin's House_

Yuffie stood up, pushed Sora to the side, and walked over to the dry-erase board. Without a word, she erased the number 66, and put 71 in its place. She set the marker down quietly, sat down in a chair, and covered her face. Tifa came over to her, and held her in a sisterly manner.

"Grrr, those stupid heartless, don't know who they're messing with!" Donald grumbled, pulling out his staff and starting to charge out of the house. He looked back at Sora and Goofy. "What d'you think you're waiting for, ya big palookas? Isn't there still heartless out there?"

"Five members of the red squad are dead," Sora said. "Seventy-one..." He looked to Merlin. Goofy had come to the same conclusion. "That's the number of people who've been lost fighting the heartless."

"The soldiers who have been lost, yes," Merlin said quietly. "Adding civilians is approximately 120. Other injured brings the total to around 500."

Sora clenched his fist tightly. The Seer Eye that Aerith had given him was making an imprint on his palm. "Six weeks ago, I saw a star blink out. I didn't tell anyone, and convinced myself that it was a trick of the eye. I'm sorry." He looked over to Aerith. "If anything happens, no matter what time it is, just say the word and we'll be here. Right guys?"

"Yup, we'll be ready to help y'all out!" Goofy said.

"Aw, you're leaving already?" Rikku asked in disappointment.

"There's lots of people in the other worlds, and they still need our help," Sora said. "Tell Leon good luck in rebuilding the Guardian Corp. And...believe me when I say that after Destiny Islands, Radiant Garden is the world most important to me."

The three of them said their goodbyes (with an assurance from Merlin that he would transport Sora's gifts to the _Highwind_), and left the house.

The sun had already set, but the night was far from dark. Lights in windows cast orange glows across the plaza. Sora had one hand stuffed in his pocket, and the other one was turning the Seer Eye over.

"Are you feeling alright, Sora?" Donald asked.

"I'm alright," he said. "Or something. So much has changed. I'm not fighting to find my friends and go home. This time, I left home, because I thought that it'd be simple. Find and help the people that are connected to me, that's what the King said in his letter." He sighed. _There's this battle...but how many other people are going to lose everything in the future?_

He looked back to the seeing stone. Suddenly, it started to glow brightly, and rose from his hand. The keyblade appeared, and the tip started to glow. Donald and Goofy backed up, knowing very well what was happening, having seen it happen a dozen times in their last journey.

Sora held the keyblade with both hands, and pointed it at the ground. A powerful wind burst up about him, and a crown of light appeared on the ground beneath him. A beam shot into the air from the Seer Eye and through the clouds. The sky whirled, and an enormous keyhole appeared. Sora pointed the keyblade at it, and with a fantastic light show, the keyhole closed, and the gate opened.

Just as suddenly as it appeared, the lights faded. The Seer Eye, instead of just dropping to the ground, came back over to him and settled into his palm. "A new road." The seeing stone glimmered once more as he came near Donald and Goofy. Though it may have been only his imagination, he took it as more than that. _Trust those tied close to your heart._

"Once we get going, there's something I need to tell you guys, that I left out about the past year."

_The Highwind_

Sora told Donald and Goofy about his mother, Irina's, death in the storm a month earlier. He almost had to stop when he reached the point where he found out what had happened after the storm. Mayor Tellah, Kairi's adoptive father, was the one who found him first during the search, to tell him that her body had been found. He'd very nearly had a breakdown, and it took the combined efforts of Riku, Kairi, Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie to get him to open up. After the funeral, he moved into the guest room in Riku's house, which had done wonders for his mood. Added to the island superstition of not speaking of the dead, it was like nothing had happened-on the outside. On the inside, Sora felt his stomach twist in knots any time he thought of his mother, or that storm.

With their words of comfort still rattling around in his head, Sora returned to his room on the _Highwind_, and continued picking apart the knot of tape on their gift to him. Upon finally succeeding, he tore off the wrapping paper to find a book with honey-colored covers. He opened it, and saw a note scribbled on the inside cover.

_"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." -Walt Disney_

_ Every day, during every journey, we did both._

Sora wondered offhandedly who Walt Disney was as he opened the inside cover. First thing he saw: a picture of Radiant Garden shining with lights; how it had once looked, as discovered by Tron. Sora kept flipping through the pages, seeing many different photos, two to a page minus the first page. It was halfway through the album that the pictures ended.

A thought suddenly came to him, and Sora pulled a photo out of his pocket. He unfolded it, smoothed out the creases, and put it into the plastic sleeve. Almost a year old, it was the picture that Riku had left as a hint to him, of Hayner, Pence, Olette, and Roxas in front of the mansion in Twilight Town.

Sora placed the album on a cabinet, and reached for the other gift, from King Mickey, before deciding to leave it until later. He kicked off his shoes, and closed his eyes.

_September 5th, 11 'o' clock, Radiant Garden._

He opened his eyes. Lamps cast shadows over the town. He could see it all from where he now stood, at the top of the ramp in front of the hospital very recently built in the town. He barely registered the claymores, occasionally coming up from the ground, though none activated with the lack of heartless. Sparkling blue dust spilled from his hand, blown away by the wind.

A young man came running up to him. He had shaggy black hair, and blue eyes the color of the sky. He wore simple clothes, with some battle armor on. A long sword was sheathed across his back, its scabbard carrying the design of a red stylized lily, the symbol of Radiant Garden nobility (despite the fact that the nobility was almost nonexistent any more).

"Sir, you should return to your home immediately," said the young man.

For a moment, the man said nothing. "Who..."

"I am Davin Noire," said the boy. "Sir, if you are unwell, please let me help you." He put a hand on the man's shoulder. He still couldn't see his face.

"Noire...Galenth's boy."

"You knew my father?" asked Davin, leader of Radiant Garden's militia.

"He was a friend of mine." His eyes suddenly widened, as though reminded of something. "Friend."

Davin walked around him carefully, and looked at him. "Ansem the Wise?"

Ansem looked to the stars. "Somebody help her." He collapsed to the ground, and Davin ran into the hospital, yelling for help.

* * *

_A/N: So ends Radiant Garden, at least for now._

_As the chapter is actually pre-written, the next one shouldn't take as long to get up (plus there's the fact that tennis is over). The first Disney world...I think it'll be something enjoyable. Don't want to spoil it, but here's a hint: Sora, Donald, and Goofy are soon to go among mad people. Though they may not want to, everyone there is mad. Sora's mad, I'm mad, everyone's mad!_

_Reviews are always appreciated!_


	6. Underland

_Hey, I actually updated! Here it is, the next world for Sora, Donald, and Goofy, an event in Destiny Islands, and Sora's new clothes!_

_Disclaimer: I created the Fay heartless, and own Avarice and the two other Splices in this chapter, everything else belongs to Disney or Square Enix._

**Chapter 5: Underland**

_September 6th, Destiny Islands._

Riku rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Really, if he wanted to, he didn't have to wake up until half an hour later than he did, and he'd still get to school with plenty of time. But this left him time to head to the beach before classes began.

The reasons why he went to the beach were different every time. When Sora was still there, it was usually so they could spar, since they never had any time after school. Other times, he just wanted to avoid his parents. Or Tidus and Wakka wanted to train against him. Though he beat them every time (that had been the case even before the destruction of Destiny Islands two years previous), it did neither of them again good to fight against each other, since they knew each other's moves so well. On the plus side, if they were ever fighting alongside each other, they'd be able to work as a team as well as Sora and Riku did.

Tidus, and Wakka, and Selphie. All three knew about the heartless. They knew most of what had happened to Sora, Riku, and Kairi against Ansem and Organization XIII. There were some things that had been kept between the three, but they knew that there were dangerous things out there. Though King Mickey might not approve, after each other, and Donald and Goofy in Sora's case, Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka were their closest friends, and so they felt obligated to tell them.

With that knowledge in mind, Tidus and Wakka had become incredibly serious about learning to fight for real. Tidus had his old man's sword sitting on a shelf in his room, and Wakka had not only weighted down his blitzball to be over twenty pounds (a regulation blitzball was twelve pounds, heavy enough to help it go straight through the water), but was learning elemental magic to combine with his shots. Though everyone else had been skeptical about his choice of a blitzball as a weapon, it strangely worked for him.

Neither Wakka nor Tidus were at the beach, nor anyone else. Riku had only come out to relax a little.

The salty brine blocked out all other scents and senses. It was still very warm out, and would stay warm until really late November. Even then, on occasion there would be somebody out swimming. Riku closed his eyes, and tilted his head back to take it all in. Though he knew he'd get sand all over himself, he sat down on the water's edge and threw his backpack to the side.

Digging his hand through the powdery white sand, he felt something hard but smooth with the tips of his fingers. He pulled it up, and was almost surprised to see a thalassa shell. Instead of the normal yellow and rose colors, this one was in shades of blue. He made a mental note to give it to Kairi later.

Kairi.

She was why he was here. Not on the beach, but in Destiny Islands. Were it not for her, Riku would have left with Sora. He wouldn't leave her alone. Not only did he want to protect her, but it wasn't fair, for her to be left behind again, while Sora and Riku were off on a journey. Plus there was always the chance of that guy from the Blitzball match coming again.

Riku shielded his face as the rising sun glimmered across the water in shades of yellow, orange and gray. He sighed. "Probably should get going."

Suddenly from behind them, somebody said. "Why hurry? It's only school, after all." Riku looked over his shoulder, and saw one of the weirder couples he had ever seen in his life. He figured the one who had spoken was a man, only just older than himself, who had short, spiky black hair. His eyes, covered by square glasses, were shrewd and calculating. At his side was a girl in heavy clothes, gloves, and a stocking cap. A scarf was wrapped around her face, hiding her mouth and nose. The only thing visible was her eyes. Riku couldn't see her eye color, and at the moment was less interested in the color of her eyes and more interested in why these two gave off an aura that rubbed him the wrong way.

He stood up, and stuffed the thalassa shell into his pocket. "Haven't seen you two around here."

"Really? Weird, we've been here all your life, are you stupid or something? For that matter, you meet somebody new and don't even bother to introduce yourself?"

Riku made a rude hand gesture. "Name's Riku. Tell your friend that it's seventy-five out and she doesn't need to wear all that stuff." He picked up his backpack and slung it over his shoulder.

The man looked to his 'friend'. "You hear that? You can take it off."

She straightened. Riku tensed as she reached behind her head, and started untying her scarf. She undid the three-times loops. As she pulled it away from her face, darkness flowed into her features, hiding her face in shadows and turning her eyes into golden orbs.

"Had you been polite to me, I might have actually stopped the Fay once your spine was broken." He pushed his glasses up, and his features shifted. His canine teeth sharpened. Shadows over his arms became more defined, more like feathers. Interspersed with his hair was more feathers. "By the way, you can call me Avarice, for the last five minutes of your life."

The Fay, as it had been called, was twitching. Still holding its scarf, it ran across sand at Riku. Just a foot in front of him, he hit it over the head with his backpack, and summoned the Way to the Dawn, but the heartless caught him completely off guard by recovering almost immediately. It grabbed his head, and slammed it against its raised knee. Its hands glowed, the ground rumbled, and a light-blue crystal forest grew from the sand. Though he swung it as hard as he could, the keyblade couldn't cut through the crystal.

From behind, the Fay whipped out its scarf and looped it around Riku's neck, tugging hard to cut off his oxygen supply. Riku coughed as he tried to pull it loose, kicking the Fay to no effect, and he couldn't change how he had his keyblade oriented with the crystal in the way.

Riku held out one hand toward a crystal, checking the reflections as quick as he could. _Fire_, and a streak of flames reflected off the crystal face, to a crystal above him, and back down to the Fay to catch it in the face. It was surprised enough that Riku could pull the scarf away, and he took in great gulps of air. The crystals shattered apart, a few shards catching his face, but that quickly paled in comparison to the Fay grabbing him by the back of his shirt and throwing him twenty feet out across the water.

Riku turned over in midair, but as he hit the water, instead of falling in, it froze at an angle. Fire magic wasn't the only type that had a dark alignment, though instead of just "Dark Blizzaga" he'd given it the name "Fell Wind". Stronger, faster, more easily manipulable (he had, after all, just projected it out of his feet), and closer to the darkness. He used the ice as a springboard back to the shore, and rolled on hitting the ground, chaining directly into a downward stroke against the Fay. It stumbled back.

A crystal dagger formed, and it moved quickly, stabbed directly at Riku. He only blocked it twice, and the Fay slipped it between his ribs. He grunted in pain. Without conscious thought, darkness began to flow around Riku's hand.

Avarice was immensely interested. "Oho, now what would Regret think about a new soldier?" He didn't care whether Riku heard his musings or not, but for that matter, Riku should have been too absorbed in taking down the Fay to hear him. In fact, Riku had kept half his brain on the Fay, half his brain on Avarice, making sure he wasn't about to run off.

Riku went a step further from just snuffing out the darkness. It burst apart, and was replaced by shimmering light. Streaks flew out, and a second keyblade appeared!

"You're kidding!" Avarice spat. As the glow dimmed, however, he said it again, this time in sheer amusement. "You have a keyblade of flowers? Really, that was the best you could come up with? What's it called, 'Flowering Destiny'?" He giggled with mirth. It wouldn't last for long.

Riku felt his wrist twinge-it had never healed properly after his fight with Roxas, and even after being re-broken refused to heal right-but it felt like nothing compared to the crystal dagger. He tugged it out, and the flowered keyblade glowed, healing it at the very least temporarily.

Both blades in hand, Riku fended off the attacks of the Fay, light whipping around his body. It ripped his clothes with long claws hidden beneath its gloves, putting scratches oozing with darkness across his chest.

The Fay created ten spears of crystals, and let them hurl through the air at Riku. Thinner than the forest of crystal, and his strength greater, Riku could shatter any one that he blocked successfully.

Light and dark power mixed along the edges of his keyblades. "Twilight Break!" He dashed at the Fay, and struck in opposite directions, forming two long cuts through the center of the Fay. It screeched in pain.

"Let's end this already." The flowered keyblade vanished, and Riku stabbed the heartless through with Way to the Dawn. With a final spasm, it was consumed by the power of light.

"...Honestly, didn't expect that to happen," Avarice deadpanned. "Seriously, whatever happened to hatred and stubbornness equaling darkness? But to turn it into light..."

"Don't think I'm finished with you yet," Riku said, pointing his keyblade at Avarice. "What the hell are you?"

"You'd just love to know that, wouldn't you?" Avarice sighed. "Oh well. Tell the princess I'll be seeing her soon enough."

He vanished into a Corridor of Darkness. Riku would have gone after him, but as soon as he took a step, he stumbled to the ground. "Damn it...stupid..." He reached out blindly for his backpack, more specifically to get his phone (even with magic, it'd take all day for his wounds to heal, and there was still school), but instead felt something soft.

It was as close to a weapon as it got, the Fay's scarf. It had failed to vanish with its owner. Riku gripped it. "What the hell was that thing? Both of them..."

_September 6th,_ _Aboard the _Highwind...

Sora woke up early-nightmares-and wasn't surprised that neither Donald nor Goofy were up yet. The trip to the first world was estimated at 15 hours, and so they'd gone to their different rooms aboard the _Highwind_ for a well-deserved night of sleep.

Still in his clothes from yesterday minus his jacket, belt, and shoes, Sora checked the pantry. He found some very stale Pop-Tarts, some moldy bread, and some biscuits specially enchanted so they wouldn't go bad. Though they provided sustenance, the biscuits also had the consistency of cardboard, and tasted like denim. Though he knew he'd probably regret it later, when his stomach started growling from hunger, Sora pulled out one of the sea-salt ice creams Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, and Louie had given him, pulled off the wrapper, and started eating it. He took a moment to reminisce in the taste of it.

He returned to his room, and saw one box still sitting at the foot of his bed. It was the one that contained the new set of clothes. After finishing his ice cream (the stick read "Loser. Please Try Again.") he pulled the lid off and started getting dressed, throwing his old clothes onto the bed.

As he tugged the shirt over his head, he could tell that they carried the same enchantments as his old clothes, only fresh, and not aged from use. The clothes were still mostly black, and all of the red and blue had been replaced by silver. The pants were longer, reaching all the way to his ankles, and his shoes were more like sneakers. The bottom hem of his jacket reached a little past his waist. Though his right sleeve was the same length, the left sleeve reached his elbow for no apparent reason. He kept his own crown-shaped pendant (he would never call it a necklace).

Sora put away the old clothes in a drawer beneath his bed, and laid down on the bed to look at the scrapbook from Donald and Goofy again. He spent the next two hours remembering the moments behind the pictures and staring out the window, until a bell rang, signaling that they had reached their destination.

Sora came to the bridge, and Donald and Goofy were already there. Sora turned off the autopilot, and took control for the landing. Though the autopilot could land, it did a pretty shoddy job of it. He took a deep breath. "Ready or not, here we go."

_September 6th, Wonderland..._

The landing in Wonderland had been rocky, to say the least. There had been some sort of invisible band around the world that created what was effectively turbulence, rocking the ship and causing a five-second power outage. They'd only been saved from disaster the likes of what had happened in Deep Jungle by a very large and quick Thundaga spell from Donald, restoring the ship's power and draining his magic in one move.

As the stepped off the ship, Sora threw Donald an ether he'd brought with him, and the mage crushed it in his hand, restoring some of his magic.

"Okay, now then, let's see where we-" Sora's eyes widened as he looked around. "What happened here?" What had once been a rose garden in the midst of the Queen of Hearts' castle had transformed into a wild forest, tendrils snaking out across the path, ready to trip any who might take the chance of walking through it. And yet, in the hedges, Sora saw that the red roses were still growing, despite their stems looking very black and very dead. As he turned, thorns scraped his arm, the sharp pain quickly erasing any sleepiness he had left in his body.

Sora muttered "Cure" and wiped the beads of blood from his arm.

"Maybe it's been abandoned?" Donald suggested.

"Naw, that can't be right," Goofy said, as he pointed to small footsteps in the path, still fresh from marching feet. Card soldiers. "But, maybe when we came here the last time, we weren't seeing it all the way, all we saw was the surface."

"Maybe..." Sora looked up at the dreary gray sky. "Or maybe the madness has gone full-on psychotic."

After they made sure that the _Highwind_ couldn't be found, they walked through the rose garden, making sure that nothing snuck up on them. Several times they tripped, these moments growing less and less frequent as they went through it.

"Sh!" Sora said suddenly, as he heard the sound of breaking branches, holding out a hand behind him for Donald and Goofy to stop. Sora slowly walked forward, and carefully looked around the corner. He expected to maybe see a lone card soldier, or maybe even a couple heartless. He didn't expect a young woman to come running straight into him, knocking them both to the ground.

"I'm so sorry," she said, brushing herself off as she stood up. She wore a long blue dress, though it was covered in dirt. Her dirty blonde hair was tangled, and she had many cuts across her arms, face, and neck from the rose thorns. She was maybe around eighteen years old "I didn't mean to, but the things, they're coming-" Her eyes widened in fear as they heard marching feet coming their way. "Oh my god, I need to-"

"Stay behind us," Sora said reassuringly, as the keyblade appeared. Donald and Goofy both drew their weapons.

Twenty card soldiers were coming down the path, wielding various swords and axes. While keeping an eye on the young woman, Sora charged at them, with only one problem. He remembered the card soldiers as being difficult to fight, very stubborn and hard to take down. But his own power had increased by a factor of at least twenty since he had fought them last, but still fought them with the same effort.

The fight ended in approximately 5.4 seconds, and soon there were 16 unconscious card soldiers on the ground. One had a broken leg, another had run away in fear for his life, and the last two had laid down on the ground pretending they had been knocked unconscious like their fellows.

"Oops," Sora said, when he realized how all-out he had gone. He pointed his keyblade into the air. "Cura!" It would be enough to ensure that neither did they die, nor would they be able to get right back up again.

"Are you okay?" Sora said, turning back to the young woman. With two separate spells, he healed the cuts, cleaned away the blood, and restored her energy.

"How did you..." She shook her head. "I'm so sorry, but, who are you?"

"I'm Sora, and this is Donald, and Goofy," he said, holding out a friendly hand.

"It's very good to meet you," she said as she shook it. "Most call me Alice."

Just as she had been bewildered by Sora's keyblade and his display of magic, it was Sora, Donald, and Goofy's turn to be confused.

"Uh, are ya sure that yer Alice?" Goofy asked.

"Yes, I'm very sure!" she said indignantly. "And I'm sick of everyone from the caterpillar to the grinning cat telling me I'm not."

"Hold on, Goofy, I'm sure she just has the same name as our Alice," Sora said.

"If you're searching for a specific Alice, perhaps it's the same one as they're searching for," Alice said, sitting down for a moment to rest. "But I know it isn't me."

Sora sat down beside her. "Why's that?"

"Trust me, I'm no-one special. For that matter, I'm no-one, period, not anymore." It was at this that Sora got a good look at her face, and noticed that her eyes were red, like she'd been crying terribly.

"What happened?"

Alice shook her head. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"We won't tell nobody what happened," Donald reassured her.

"Ah..." Alice folded her hands. "It's odd. I feel, for some reason, as though I can trust you three, though we've never met before as far as I know."

Despite there being an eight-year difference of age between this Alice, and the Princess of Heart, Sora wasn't so sure about that anymore.

"Alright, but I'm not very good at telling stories," Alice said.

* * *

_ Alice was extremely nervous. She'd just found out that the entire party her mother had persuaded her to come to was actually an engagement dinner, from a man named Hamish Ascot, and was now waiting for him at his request on the pavilion._

_ As a crowd gathered before her, Ascot walked up onto the pavilion, ignoring the stares of the audience. Ascot went down on one knee, and took Alice's hand. "Dearest Alice Kingsleigh. What can I say, you are one of the most beautiful women that I have ever laid eyes on. I know we haven't known each other very long, but please, would you do me the honor-"_

BANG!

_ Ascot cut himself off and rose up as screams erupted through the crowd. They divided like the red sea to reveal two men. One had the appearance as though he had been electrocuted, his hair going every way. The other was rather oily in appearance. He carried a pistol, which he had just fired into the air. His arms were covered in green scales "Good day, all! I am very sorry to say that we are _not_ today's entertainment." He held it over his shoulder. "However, it will get very entertaining if somebody doesn't care to point me in the direction of Princess Alice."_

_ There came no response, though whether from love for Alice, fear of these men, or confusion at the title 'princess' being applied to Alice, nobody was very sure. "Well gee, if nobody decides to step up, I might have to get violent." He turned and shot one of the guests in the leg. He reloaded, and readied himself to shoot again, this time to kill._

_ "STOP!"_

_ It was Alice herself. "Please, stop. I'm Alice."_

_ "Now that's a good girl," said the gunmen. He gestured for her to come to him. Ascot grabbed her wrist, but she tugged him away. She wouldn't let anybody else be hurt for her._

_ As she came nearer to him, he said "Don't worry, we'll only need you for a little while. Who knows, maybe afterwards I'll actually let you come home." Alice could see in his eyes that he was lying._

_ She glanced to the side, and was surprised, but didn't let it show on her face. The gunman's partner muttered something. "Yes, yes, fine," he said in irritation. The mad-looking man vanished into a portal swirling with darkness. While the gunman was distracted, Alice took an enormous gamble. She knocked the pistol out of his hand, onto the lawn, and ran in the opposite direction, leaving him with the choice of whether to go after her there and then, or make good on his promise to kill them all and possibly lose track of Alice._

_ Meanwhile, she was going through the maze of hedges, following a pure white rabbit wearing a waistcoat. It stopped for a moment when she was almost twenty feet behind, pulled out a pocket watch, and tapped it for her to see. She ran even faster, not looking behind, with the conviction that it might be able to lead her somewhere safe.

* * *

_

"I don't know why I thought that. It led me here, and you just saw those soldiers," Alice said. "And, I'm still not sure whether anyone there is still alive, and if they're gone it's my fault, and oh my goodness I need to get home-"

"Calm down, it'll be okay," Sora said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "If you don't mind my asking, you said that the one man had scales on his arms, like a snake. Did the other have any animal-like traits like that?"

Alice thought about it for a moment. "Ears like a dog. He might have had a tail, but I thought I imagined that."

"Okay, I just wanted to be sure," Sora said. "Donald, Goofy, would you mind talking with me for a second?"

They huddled together, and Sora said quietly "I think this Alice is the same girl as our Alice."

"But, Sora, she's-" Goofy started.

"I know, almost ten years older. But, think about it. These guys sound like Splices, and came here to find Alice, since they thought she could lead them to the keyhole or something. They even called her 'Princess'. Besides, look me in the eye and tell me we've never come across something stranger than ten years passing in another world while one year passes for everyone else.

"And even if she isn't our Alice, I still feel like we should help her. It's the right thing to do."

"Aw, phooey," Donald said as he walked away from their huddle. "Every time you say that we get into something as weird as this."

"At least I don't do 'What could possibly go wrong'?" Sora threw back at him. "And it always gets worse." He turned back to Alice.

"So, Alice, this is the Queen of Hearts' Castle, right? Her garden?"

"She calls herself the Red Queen now, but yes," Alice said with a nod. "When I came here, a friend of mine helped save me from the Red Queen, but he was arrested himself. I came here to help him, but I was discovered in the castle to share the name of this girl who's supposed to destroy the Red Queen's Jabberwocky."

Sora almost smiled at the memory of the non-sense poem, the Jabberwocky. "Okay, so now you need to get back into the castle, easy enough. We'll help you."

"I can't trouble you with something like-"

"Don't ya worry, Alice, we want to help," Goofy said.

* * *

_A/N: Just to be clear, this "Wonderland" is based off of Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" released in March of 2010._

_All three of those Splices will be more important later. Avarice, the one in the beginning, Apathy, the one with scales on his arms, and Madness, Apathy's partner. I swear, when I thought of the naming system I hadn't yet found out that the Unversed were also based around negative emotions. Sheer coincidence._

_Avarice is voiced by Wendy Powell, who voices Envy in Fullmetal Alchemist._


	7. New Friends, Old Enemies

_Disclaimer: Sora, Donald, Goofy, Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Knave of Hearts, the Red Queen, the White Queen, the Bandersnatch, and the Card Soldiers are all owned by Disney. Chocobos are owned by Square Enix. "The Jabberwocky", as in the poem, belongs to the estate of Lewis Carrol._

_Sora: Was it absolutely necessary to say all of those names?_

_Was it absolutely necessary for you to say "absolutely" instead of just saying "Did you really need to say all that?"_

_Sora: ...Never mind..._

**Chapter 6: New Friends, Old Enemies**

**_September 6th, the Red Queen's Castle, Underland..._**

"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves; did gyre and gumble in the wabe; all mimsy were the borogoves; and the momes raths..." The voice of the Knave of Hearts slowly faded as he passed down the hallway away from them.

Sora found it interesting that the greatest servant to the Red Queen herself would have memorized a poem that told of the Jabberwocky's demise, but quickly pushed that thought out of his mind.

As they'd headed to the castle, Alice had explained that the friend who had helped her was the Mad Hatter, who was an ally to the White Queen. The White Queen was the Red Queen's sister, but opposed her. The White Queen was searching for the Vorpal Sword, the only weapon able to kill the Jabberwocky (or at least, it was foretold that the Vorpal Sword would defeat the Jabberwocky, but Sora had never much been one for prophecy).

"In here!" Sora hissed, as he pulled his three companions into an empty room. "This isn't going to work, all four of us sneaking around like this," he said as he closed the door. "And there's something I've just thought of. The White Queen is the Red Queen's sister, right? Which means she has to come from the same psychotic gene pool, no matter how good she is. Something tells me she wouldn't be very happy if we came without the Vorpal Sword."

They had been unlucky enough to find themselves in the Red Queen's throne room earlier. Donald had gotten caught by one of the card soldiers, and he couldn't use magic or he'd give himself away.

* * *

_"Your highness, we found this, this, _thing, _walking around the castle," the 8 of Diamonds said._

_"Hey, look who your're calling a freak!" Donald said in one of his signature outbursts._

_"So it speaks?" The Red Queen looked at Donald with interest. Donald gulped in mild fear, as the Red Queen certainly cut a more imposing figure than she had the last time they were here. Her head was incredibly large, with her hair styled into the shape of a heart. Her face was powdered completely white. However, something in her eyes was really disconcerting. "Come then, speak again."_

_"Uh..." When he said nothing else, the card soldier poked him with his pike. "Hey, watch what you're doin' with that, ya big palooka!"_

_The Red Queen smiled slightly. "It amuses me, though I haven't the faintest idea what it just said."_

_When another minute passed, and Donald didn't say anything, the Red Queen sighed. "I grow bored. Off with its head," she said in a manner that suggested that this was normal behavior for her. Bring in something odd, laugh at it, then kill it when she grew bored._

_Of course, Donald's friends wouldn't let that happen to him. As soon as the guards dragged him, kicking and yelling, out of the throne room, Sora and Goofy knocked them out, and dragged them into a closet._

_

* * *

_

"You may be right," Alice said, having had more experience with the Red Queen than Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "So then, I'll find the Hatter, and the three of you will find the sword?"

Sora shook his head. "No way. Guys, would you mind going with Alice?"

"Reduced from Royal Court Wizard, to the Jester, to a common bodyguard," Donald grumbled. Sora couldn't help but notice Goofy's subtle kick to Donald. Royal Captain of the Guards, hurr-hurr.

"You'll be safe with us, Pri-" Goofy caught himself, and winked at Sora. "I mean, Alice. So we'll search for the Mad Hatter, and yer gonna find that 'Whirlpool Sword'?"

"Vorpal!" Donald corrected.

"Exactly," Sora said. "Shouldn't be too hard to figure it out."

**_Later..._**

Sora went through the halls as quickly as possible, as he had a group of approximately fifty card soldiers hot on his heels, led by the Knave of Hearts. He had quickly discovered that the card soldiers sent after Alice were low-ranking, as opposed to these ones, which were very difficult to take down.

He rounded a turn quickly, and through a door to the outdoors. He slammed it shut behind him, and summoned the keyblade to lock it. "Well, that didn't work," he grunted. He'd been caught while interrogating one of the members of the Red Queen's Entourage, and while Sora had succeeded in discovering the location of the Vorpal Sword, he didn't know how he was supposed to get the case away from the Bandersnatch.

"At least it isn't the Jabberwocky itself," he said with a sigh.

He walked away from the door, and over to the small doghouse-like structure in the middle of the courtyard. It smelled vaguely of rotting meat as he came closer. "The Bandersnatch Den, great." He looked through a crack in the door, and saw that he had another blessing. The great furry brute was sleeping, snoring in fact.

Sora pointed the tip of the keyblade at the lock, and reached out a hand. The lock fell into it, and he set it down carefully onto the ground. He dismissed the keyblade, and slowly opened the door to the Bandersnatch den, and slipped inside.

_Where is it, where is it,_ Sora thought as he looked around, trying to keep as far from the sleeping Bandersnatch as possible. And when he finally saw a long black case with a shiny silver lock on it, he sighed. _Of course it would sleep on it._

With the greatest care, Sora reached for the case. The Bandersnatch snorted, and he pulled back, before trying again. He got one hand on the case, and started to pull it out from beneath the stinking mass.

The Bandersnatch's eyes opened, and it swiped at Sora with venom-tipped claws. Sora howled in pain.

**_Elsewhere..._**

Alice, Donald, and Goofy were well-aware of Sora's attracting attention of the card soldiers, which made it easier for them to reach the Mad Hatter. However, it was upon reaching the workshop (as the Hatter had become the Red Queen's milliner to delay his execution) that they heard Sora cry out, even that far away. Donald and Goofy had been that close to running in the opposite direction. They stayed with Alice only because of the chance that she _was_ their Alice.

The guards gone from the door, Donald blasted the lock apart with a cry of "Thunder!"

"Would you mind staying outside, and warn me if somebody comes?" Alice asked. "The Hatter...he's a good man, but he is a little unstable." She pulled the door open, and stepped inside.

The Mad Hatter was busy at work, oblivious to the chaos in the Red Queen's Castle. Many hats were stacked on posts around the room, and he had lengths of fabric laid out on a desk. He looked up, and half-smiled. "Oh, Alice, it's so good to see you."

"Hello, Hatter, busy then?" she said tentatively.

"Oh yes, it's so calming to be back at my trade again," he said with another smile.

Alice came over to him, and put a hand on his shoulder. "But, Hatter, remember: You're working for the Red Queen."

The Hatter looked at her with an expression of concern for himself on his face. His smile slowly turned over. "No, no no no, no!" He looked at his own traitorous hands, before using them to push the fabrics and tools off of his desk. "No!" He ripped apart the hats he had already finished, and looked ready to destroy his very own iconic hat, when Alice snatched it away from him, and set it on his head.

The Hatter shook his head. "Oh, dear Alice, have I gone mad?"

Alice didn't know how to respond at first, before remembering another person who had once asked that question. Herself, to her dear father. She thought back to what he had done, and put her hand on the Hatter's forehead as though checking for a fever. "Yes, Hatter, you have gone mad, you're absolutely daffy. But you know what?" She smiled a friendly smile. "All the best people are."

The Hatter considered this for a moment, before laughing. "Ah, thank you, Alice. Now then: How is a raven like a writing desk?"

"I don't know, but we need to go," Alice said. "There's a boy here, and he'll help us."

**_With Sora..._**

Sora cursed the best words he could think of. He had already cast a Reflect spell to protect himself from the Bandersnatch, though that wasn't very necessary, as it had fallen back asleep after cutting him in his stomach.

"Okay, new plan," Sora muttered. "Great Poseidon this hurts!" He couldn't leave the Bandersnatch Den, because he might not get another chance, and he wasn't going to use the keyblade or magic against it. Normally, he'd have no such qualms, but he'd spotted the tell-tale scars from a whip on the Bandersnatch's backside. Not only that, but one of its eyes was missing. It'd be too much to kill it.

Sora almost yelled at himself for being an idiot, and forgetting one of his most useful spells. He got closer to the front of the den, and held out his hand. "Magnet," he whispered, focusing on the black case that (he hoped) held the sword. Very slowly, the case slipped out from beneath the Bandersnatch, toward the spinning magnet spell near to his hand. Once free, the case flew through the air, and Sora snatched it up.

"Yes!" The Bandersnatch growled, and Sora got out of the den as fast as he could.

After re-locking the gate, Sora opened the case. Within was a beautifully-made one-handed sword. The blade shone like moonlight, and several pearls were laid into the flat of the blade. The handguard was simple, and the grip was made to be held by a slender hand. Indeed, Sora picked it up, and not only found the balance to be different from what the keyblade had, but the handle was awkward, and he couldn't get a good grip on it. "Now that I think about it, can Alice even use a sword?" Nonetheless, he set it back down in the case and shut it tightly.

He stood up quickly when he heard the sound of marching feet. Card soldiers, again led by the Knave, were coming around the corner.

The Knave of Hearts saw the Vorpal Sword beneath Sora's arm. "If you know what's best for you, you'll hand that over."

"Yeah..." Sora pointed the keyblade at them. "Aeroga!" A powerful burst of wind flew at them, buffeting the Knave and knocking several card soldiers down.

"Thundaga!" A storm of lightning bolts rained down upon them as Alice, Donald, Goofy, and an odd man with a completely white face, orange hair, and ragged clothes came out of the castle. Sora assumed this was the Mad Hatter, though he looked far different from when he'd seen him in Wonderland the last time. Admittedly, that had only been a painting, but it still threw him for a bit of a loop.

Meanwhile, the Knave of Hearts drew his sword in anger. He charged, and Sora blocked him, at the same time throwing the case to Goofy. Sora quickly turned back to the Knave, parried his next strike, and let loose a fireball at him. It was a wake-up call to fight somebody so much taller than him-the Knave was around seven and a half feet tall. He therefore had much longer reach, and Sora was forced to play defensively. He didn't want to exhaust himself fighting the Knave, since he knew there were at least two Splices on this world.

He looked around, and Alice was nowhere to be seen. "Freeze!" A layer of ice froze the Knave's feet to the ground, giving Sora a second before he cut himself free. "Where's Alice?" His heart sank when he saw Donald point to the Bandersnatch's Den.

While Sora was fighting off the Knave and the Card Soldiers, Alice had seen the need for a manner of escape. Maybe she was mad, but she knew that the Bandersnatch was very big, fast, and strong, and so she'd went into the den, alone.

It opened its remaining eye when she entered. "Don't worry, I want to help you," Alice said reassuringly. She reached out towards it, and it growled slightly. She waited a moment, but didn't pull back. "Calm yourself, I don't intend to hurt you." Very carefully, she laid her hand on fur on the scruff of its neck. "You see?"

_Perhaps I'm the one who's gone completely daffy,_ Alice thought, trying to ignore the stinging feeling coming from her arm. Sora hadn't been the only one to be injured by the Bandersnatch.

But even so, Alice was indeed a Princess of Heart, a young woman with a heart of pure light. She could forgive this creature when another person might not be able to. And unlike another person, her forgiveness could take a physical form.

Unconsciously, magic began to spill from Alice's fingertips, through the Bandersnatch's fur, to its empty eye socket and the many marks across its body from abuse at the hands of the Red Queen's soldiers. Fresh cuts healed, and old ones faded. It itched as a new eye grew where the old one had been lost.

Alice only watched as she worked this magic, healing the Bandersnatch and winning its trust in her.

From the den burst the Bandersnatch, baring its teeth not at Sora and friends, but at the soldiers and the Knave of Hearts. Alice emerged from the den behind it, and put her hand in its fur.

The Knave put on a brave face. "Don't stop you fools!" He looked behind him, and saw only abandoned weapons, as the Card Soldiers had run from the fuming Bandersnatch.

Sora took the opportunity to throw his arms up. "Reflega!"

"Hatter!" Alice called as she pulled herself onto the Bandersnatch.

"Are you insane?" Sora called to her. "Look what that thing did to me!" He pointed to the long marks on his stomach.

"It's the only way out of here, now get on!" Alice said, as the Hatter tried to pull himself up, tugging on its fur and making it growl in irritation.

Sora looked over at the shield, it slowly fading as the Knave was readying his sword again. "I've got something else." He pulled out the summon charm Merlin had given him, a yellow feather. "Chocobo!"

In a burst of light, what appeared to be two over-sized yellow chickens with long necks and legs appeared. Saddles were on their backs like one would use on a horse. "Hope Radiant Garden doesn't train them differently than the ones back home," Sora said. "Donald, Goofy, come on!" He pulled himself onto the first Chocobo, which let out a "Kweh."

Donald and Goofy got onto the second Chocobo together, but as soon as it started running Goofy was nearly thrown off.

While it made for an odd party, a Bandersnatch and two Chocobos, nobody would pay the least attention to it as the five rode from the Red Queen's Castle.

**_The Red Queen's Throneroom..._**

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY ESCAPED!" The Red Queen screamed at the poor Card Soldier forced to deliver the less-than-favorable news. "OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" she commanded, pointing her scepter at the 5 of Clubs.

The Knave of Hearts came up beside the queen. "Your majesty, calm yourself, please, it's unbecoming of you. We'll find them, I swear to it. After all, there's only one place they could have gone."

"Yes, I suppose you're right," the Red Queen grumbled. "The home of my wretched sister. But that boy, the keyblade master, he could be a problem. He has a certain penchant for meddling. Perhaps you weren't here that last time, but he prevented me from taking the head of the damn girl the last time she was here in Underland."

"It won't happen this time, I promise you," the Knave swore.

The Red Queen smiled maliciously. "I'll take your word at that. Now then: ready the Jabberwocky."

**_September 6th, the path to the White Queen's Castle..._**

It had surprised Sora to find that the Bandersnatch nearly outstripped the Chocobos he had summoned. He off-handedly wondered how it would compare to one of the Chocobos one could find back at Destiny Islands, where those of the blue variety were used occasionally as transportation between the islands, given their ability to go fast enough to run across the top of the water.

It had taken a while, but Donald and Goofy had eventually figured out their own Chocobo (which Goofy had decided to call 'Chickenfeathers' while Sora was calling his 'Cloud Runner'. He figured it was just the different cultures).

Sora had spent the last half an hour trying to decipher the Mad Hatter's words, convince Alice that she was a Princess of Heart, and figure out how a raven was like a writing desk. He had thus far been unsuccessful in all three ventures. But for some reason he couldn't explain, the Mad Hatter reminded him of Jack Sparrow.

"Okay, now you're telling me, that out there are many other worlds besides my own," Alice said, sarcasm thick in her voice. "And in those worlds, there are seven girls who have incredibly pure hearts-not physical hearts, but spiritual. And I am one of those girls, and ten years ago in my time I was kidnapped to open the gate to heaven?"

"Kingdom Hearts, though I think the ideas might be similar," Sora said. "Look, you healed the Bandersnatch, you even restored its eye, why is it such a weird idea that there's other worlds out there?"

"Because I don't remember them! And besides, if that happened ten years ago, you would have only been a child then!"

"I think something happened here, like time moved faster here for some reason," Sora said. "It's not that weird compared to what I've seen!"

"Like what?"

Suddenly, Cloud Runner reared back with a loud "Wark!" Chickenfeathers almost bucked Donald and Goofy off of its back, as the shadows on the ground began to move.

"Like that!" Sora summoned his keyblade, and the Neoshadows leaped from the ground. "Thundaga!" Bursts of lightning struck them, knocking them back a foot. "Watch it Alice, Fir-" A shudder went through his body, and Sora slipped out of his saddle in pain. "Fira," he grunted. One of the Neoshadows was incinerated.

Donald and Goofy destroyed the other two together, before rushing over to Sora. He put his hand to his stomach, and flinched when he saw his own blood mixed with the Bandersnatch's green venom. "Stupid..." He cast another Cure spell on himself, but it did little to ease his pain.

"How did this happen?" Alice asked.

Sora grunted as Goofy helped him stand up. "The Bander-thing got me while I was trying to get the sword. None of the spells I've learned help at all."

Alice furrowed her brow in thought, and slid down the side of the Bandersnatch. "Come here," she said, taking Sora by the hand, over to the Bandersnatch's front end. "It scratched me as well, when I got here." She showed Sora where her sleeve had been torn, but there was no cut anymore. With one hand, she tore off part of the hem of her dress, and held it out to the Bandersnatch. "If you please?"

The Bandersnatch looked at it for a moment, before licking the piece of blue cloth, covering it and half of Alice's arm with its spit. Alice turned back to Sora. "Pull up your shirt," she instructed.

"What...what?" Sora said in bewilderment, now wondering if Alice was mad.

"Would you prefer it lick your stomach, because that's what it did to my arm," Alice said. Sora reluctantly undid his jacket and pulled up part of his shirt. Donald, Goofy, and the Hatter watched in interest as Alice wiped away the blood and venom away from Sora's skin. At the same time, Sora felt the scratches closing, and a cooling feeling come over him.

"So it's saliva is an antidote for its venom," Sora muttered. He pulled his shirt back down as Alice threw the cloth away, and wiped her arm off on the Bandersnatch's fur. "Thanks, Alice."

"It's the least I can do for everything you've done for me," she said, pulling herself back onto the Bandersnatch.

* * *

_A/N: I never want to type the word "Bandersnatch" ever again..._

_Reviews are always appreciated!_


	8. The Jabberwocky

_Disclaimer: I own only the two Splices who appear in this chapter, nobody and nothing else._

**Chapter 8: The Jabberwocky**

**_September 7th, the White Queen's Castle, Underland..._**

They had rode all the way until dusk, and the Chocobos had to rest. While they could keep up with the Bandersnatch to a point, they still needed to eat and sleep. However, as soon as they could, they set off again, reaching the White Queen's Castle by noon the next day.

Something about the castle disconcerted Sora. It occurred to him that it reminded him deeply of the Castle that Never Was. Everything was completely white. However, taking that even further, everyone there was dressed completely in white, and their faces were very pale.

Sora gave Cloud Runner a last scratch, before raising the summon charm. Both Cloud Runner and Chickenfeathers turned to light, and vanished into it. He tucked it away in a pocket.

Alice and the Mad Hatter both dismounted from the Bandersnatch, Alice elegantly, while the Mad Hatter got snagged in its fur, hanging upside-down for a moment. "A hand, please?"

After getting him free, Sora passed Alice the case that held the Vorpal Sword, as a woman wearing a tiara, with several followers, approached them. The White Queen, like everyone else, wore a long white dress, and had pale skin. Had it not been for an air of tension around her, her unnatural skin tone, and her expressionless face, she would have been quite attractive. However, Sora had been right that being the Red Queen's own sister (even though she'd been banished from the main Underland by her sister), she wasn't very stable, even if she didn't always show it. On the other hand, while she was certainly tempted by the power of darkness, she was trying to stay away from it by surrounding herself in purity.

The White Queen gave a very slight smile. "Oh, you are Alice?"

Alice nodded, and curtseyed to the White Queen. The Hatter swept his signature hat off his head and gave the Queen a deep bow. Sora, Donald, and Goofy each gave her a bow of middling respect.

Alice took the Vorpal Sword in hand carefully. "I believe this is yours, your highness," she said, and handed the sword to the Queen, the blade's last owner.

The White Queen nodded. "I thank you, Princess Alice."

"HA!" Sora then realized just how loud he was, and scratched the back of his head nervously. "Ah, sorry about that." To Donald, who had been the most skeptical, he whispered "_I told you so._"

"Ah, phooey," was all Donald said in response.

The White Queen, however, looked curiously at Sora. "What's this? I know one of your friends, for the Hatter has always been one of my loyal subjects." The Hatter's chest puffed up in pride. "But I don't know these three."

"This is Donald and Goofy," Sora said. On a whim, he added "Court Mage and Captain of the Royal Knights at Disney Castle." Sora saw a flicker of recognition in the White Queen's face, which confirmed his theory that she was one of those few people in the worlds who were aware of the existence of other worlds. "And I'm Sora."

"No titles?"

"Um...Wielder of the Kingdom Key," Sora said, completely making it up on the spot. He held out one hand, and the keyblade appeared.

"A keyblade master? It's been too long," the White Queen said, and to the surprise of a few, she gave Sora a slight curtsy. "And with formalities out of the way, Alice, if you please?"

**_Later..._**

Sora, Donald, and Goofy felt very out-of-place in the White Queen's Castle, and it showed. It wasn't long before a servant showed them a courtyard where they could do as they wished on their own. They took that to mean that they could spar some and nobody would disturb them. In Sora's case, he threw off three casts of each of the offensive spells Merlin had taught him, but never got to practice, before deciding to run around the perimeter of the castle.

However, he was barely half-way around when he saw Alice sitting by herself on a bench, in the midst of a garden. He ran over to her, and said "Mind if I sit down?" Alice shook her head, and scooted over.

"Sora, I wanted to thank you," Alice said, turning her head to face him.

"Hey, it's what I do," he said casually.

"No, not for yesterday," she said. "For ten years ago-or from your perspective, two years ago." She held her hands near each other, and a small orb of light appeared.

"Wait...you remember?"

Alice nodded, and smiled. "It was Absolem who reminded me. Ah, he's a caterpillar, a very kind fellow." She pointed to one of the bushes, and Sora could barely make out a blue-tinted cocoon. "When I came here, this second time, he said I was hardly Alice. The one meant to destroy the Jabberwocky, and thus stop the Red Queen on the Frabjous Day. He meant that I hadn't yet gone through the things that would let me become that person." She sighed. "But then, even with remembering being one of the Princesses, could this-" She gestured to the orb of light. "-let me defeat it? It seems like an impossible task."

"Mm," was all the sound Sora made. "Sorry, I would say that I could teach you sword-fighting, but I don't know how much time we have."

Alice furrowed her brow. "Are you alright, Sora? You seem different from last time."

"That was two years ago, a lot's happened since then."

"No...I don't think that's it. Has something happened recently? Very recently?"

Sora sighed. "You're not the only one facing an impossible enemy." He explained to her about the Splices, and their enormous amount of power, and how even while handicapping himself Regret could beat him. And before he knew it, he was telling Alice about his mother's death, and leaving Kairi and Riku on Destiny Islands, and the nightmares Regret had given him, and the fact that he had left Destiny Islands without a clue that there was a new enemy about, only thinking that he had to help some people who were connected to him, even though he hadn't a clue who they were.

Alice listened to him through his entire story. No, not story, more ranting if anything. But it helped him let off steam as he did it, and certainly made him feel better.

"So every night since, I've gotten around four hours of sleep, I don't know how I'm functioning right now," Sora said.

Alice closed her eyes in thought. "Six impossible things. That's what we need, six impossible things."

"Huh?"

"My father was a great man. He didn't deserve to die so young," Alice said. "He said, that he thought of six impossible things before breakfast every morning. For example: you can ride a chicken."

"It's a Chocobo, and where I come from that isn't impossible, it's actually really common," Sora retorted. "But...animals can talk."

"Your hair can stay up like that," Alice said with a slight chuckle. Sora pulled on the tip of his spiky hair.

"You forgot that you came here when you were eight," Sora said. He again considered that he was going mad here. And yet, playing this was almost fun. Since he'd told Alice about everything that had happened in the past month-and-a-half, he felt like an enormous weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.

However, the one his heart was supporting was still there.

**_September 8th: The Frabjous Day._**

A favor doesn't come without a price, Sora, Donald, and Goofy learned the next day. Due to the re-organization of Underland, the doorknob with the keyhole was no longer where it had once been. The White Queen had offered to tell them where it was now...but they had to give their services to her for this day. It was the Red Queen's Champion (the Jabberwocky) which would battle the White Queen's Champion (hopefully Alice). Sora almost pointed out that he had planned to come anyways, but then decided to keep his trap shut.

The White Queen had amassed her forces in front of the castle. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were now back on Chocobo-back (this time Donald riding with Sora on Cloud Runner), but Alice was nowhere to be seen.

"Maybe she's not comin'," Donald said hesitantly.

"No, she'll be here," Sora said confidently. He hadn't told anybody else, but last night, he had spent up until midnight teaching Alice the basics of sword-fighting. It wasn't a lot, but he had to hope it would be enough (besides, worst case scenario, screw destiny and help her out).

True to Sora's words, within five minutes, Alice came riding out on the back of the Bandersnatch (the Hatter had taken to riding a horse). The Vorpal Sword was belted to her waist, and her dirty gray dress was replaced by shining steel armor. She came up beside the White Queen, just in front of Sora, Donald, Goofy, and the Hatter.

"I'm ready," Alice said to the White Queen. Or at least, as ready as she'd ever be.

**_The Chessboard Desert..._**

As the two armies gathered at the black and white desert, the true foes watched eagerly atop a cliff. At least, one did, while the other was immensely fascinated by a beetle with an emerald shell.

"Madness, would it kill you to pay attention?"

"That is an excellent question," said the super-strong Splice, very seriously.

"Do you have even the faintest idea why we're here?"

"Do you fancy me a fool?" Madness said in mockery of his partner's use of the word 'faintest'. "Find the princess. Use her to find the keyhole. After that, can I burn this place?" He grinned.

"...Sure."

"...Ooh! I see the keyblade master!"

"What!"

"Right there! Can I kill him?" He then saw Donald and Goofy. "Mm, did you know that in Korea, dog is a very popular dish?"

"And this is relevant because?"

"Pretty bug!" he said, his attention back on the beetle. His arm flew out and he grabbed the beetle with his bare hand. There was a disgusting _crunch_ as his fingers closed around it. Madness was so preoccupied with the beetle that he failed to notice as a massive beast flew over the soon-to-be battlefield.

The Jabberwocky.

An enormous, dragon-like creature with a long neck, and wings like that of a bat. Its skin was leathery, its eyes burning red. It landed on all fours, its head extending towards Alice. She put on her brave face as she drew the Vorpal Sword. The Jabberwocky said "Ah, we meet again, my old foe."

"We've never met before," Alice said.

"I wasn't referring to you. You're nothing more than a harmless girl. The Vorpal Sword, however, has been fighting me all throughout eternity, and will continue forever. A futile effort."

"Enough chatter," Alice said. She struck upward quickly, and a pink, wriggling thing dropped to the ground. The Jabberwocky's tongue. Sora sneaked a peek over at the White Queen, who looked like she was about to puke.

Alice threw one hand out. "Light!" A burst of light collided with the Jabberwocky's chest, taking it completely by surprise. It was knocked off its feet, and slid back in the direction of the Red Army. It stood back up again just as quickly. It came at Alice, and swept its tail around, and sent Alice flying through the air, into the cliff that the two Splices were planning atop of.

The Jabberwocky flew at Alice, and unleashed an stream of dark flames from its jaws at point-blank. Sora winced at the sight. He looked around a little, and coughed into his hand. "Shell," he muttered. An almost-invisible purple layer of magic appeared around Alice. The next time the Jabberwocky used that flame of his, Alice would be surprised to find that it didn't hurt as much as the first time. But not too surprised, as when Sora had mentioned the previous day that he had a few spells that could reduce damage taken, she hadn't _specifically_ told him he shouldn't use them. A Samurai going by Bushido code, she was not.

The next opportunity he could, Sora created a Protect spell around Alice. He felt a temptation to cast Cure, but knew that would be pushing it. Leaves floating over somebody's head couldn't be ignored, and somebody would figure out he was doing it.

The Jabberwocky raised one arm, and raked Alice across her chest. Under normal circumstances, that would have been a death blow, but with Sora's Protect in place, it merely knocked some pieces of her armor away.

The Knave of Hearts had seen plenty of magic in his time as the Captain of the Red Queen's Guard, but he knew how to judge somebody's magical ability. He even knew of the spell Protect, and knew that if Alice was capable of casting it, she would also know Cure, which she obviously didn't. The most she could do with magic was cast orbs of light, an ability inherent in the princesses of heart, and a far cry from healing spells.

He stepped out into the gap between the two armies. "I call foul! One of you has broken the rules of this duel, and has interfered!"

"You can say that again." And there, less than ten feet away from the Knave, the two Splices appeared. Sora's eyes widened. While he didn't know they were Splices, he had a pretty good feeling that they were, as they matched the description Alice had given for the party-crashers who had threatened to kill her family and friends.

Sora stepped off of the Chocobo, and summoned the keyblade. As he was in the front of the White Queen's Army, he drew plenty of attention with that. The Splice grinned. "There he is! The master of the keyblade, Sora! I know for a fact that he has a certain penchant for meddling where he doesn't belong."

Sora kept one eye on the continuing fight between Alice and the Jabberwocky, and his other eye on the Splices. "Who are you?" he asked.

"You can call me Apathy," said the one with snake-like markings on his arms. He had a pistol holstered to each thigh. He gestured to his partner. "And this is Madness." Madness looked at Apathy like he had sworn terribly, and Apathy realized what he had said. "Aw, shi-" but was cut off.

"Madness?" said the crazed Splice, in a gruff voice unlike his normal voice. "THIS, IS, _SPARTA!_" With one hand, Madness punched his partner fifty feet through the air.

After picking himself back up, Apathy said "Moving on. By summoning that keyblade, he may as well have admitted it."

Sora hesitated a moment. "Y'know what, yeah, I did. I meddled, or interfered, or whatever you'd like to call it." He raised his keyblade into the air and cried "CURAGA!" A wreath of bellflowers appeared over Alice's head, healing her injuries.

The Red Queen raised her scepter and screeched "OFF WITH HIS HEAD!"

And chaos broke loose.

Sora's first thought was to go for the Splices, but they were gone as soon as they came; at least for now. His second thought was to defend himself from the Knave of Heart's very sharp sword. He raised the Ultima Weapon, and caught the blade along the keyblade's edge.

He broke the lock, and the Knave stabbed at him thrice. The first two Sora blocked, and on the third, a stone flew over Sora's shoulder and hit the Knave's sword hand.

Sora looked around, and it was the Mad Hatter, his own sword in hand. "If you wouldn't mind," the Hatter said. Sora stepped aside, so that the Hatter could take on the Knave. As soon as he did, the Knave and Hatter clashed blades, the Hatter able to keep up very well despite his height disadvantage.

As Sora looked around, he almost regretted interfering with Alice's fight, as he'd inadvertently started a battle between the White and Red armies. Almost was the operative word, as he had the feeling that if he hadn't, Alice wouldn't have been able to survive thus far. He could only hope it would end quickly enough that nobody would be hurt too badly.

"I wouldn't worry yourself with this fight if I were you," said a terribly familiar voice. In front of Sora, the Cheshire Cat appeared.

"Oh, no, not you!"

"A more important fight takes place, I think you'd remember." The Cat floated through the air aimlessly, as though he really couldn't care less about the battle around him.

Sora looked around. "Donald, Goofy! We need to help Alice!"

His friends came running, and they dashed across the battlefield as fast as they could, back in the direction of Alice's battle with the Jabberwocky upon the cliff. However, they quickly discovered that the Knave wasn't the only one who knew about magic, as Sora ran face-first into a magical barrier.

The Jabberwocky wouldn't have any more interruptions as he fought the Princess of Heart. Alice rolled away from his terrible claws, and turned to run up the side of the cliff by a crumbling stairway. Sora's Protect and Shell spells had already run out, leaving her with only her strength.

"I can't do this, I can't, they're all mad," Alice said breathlessly. She went to the side as the Jabberwocky let loose a storm of violet lightning.

"ALICE! SIX IMPOSSIBLE THINGS!" She looked out, and saw Sora, holding up all five fingers on one hand, and his thumb on the other hand. Their mind-game last night, thinking up impossible things that they had actually encountered.

Alice shook as she held the Vorpal Sword in both hands. At the top of the cliff, she released a burst of light at the Jabberwocky. "'I try to believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast. Count them Alice'. One, animals can talk." She spun away from the Jabberwocky's snap at her. "Two, cats can disappear." She gave it a long but shallow cut along its stomach. "Three, there are swords shaped like keys." The Jabberwocky reared back, before bringing its tail down onto the rocky platform. "Four, magic exists." The Vorpal Sword glowed, and Alice swung it through the air. A sweeping crescent of light flew at the Jabberwocky, and it hit straight-on. "Five, there is a place called Underland.

"Six," she said to herself. "I can slay the Jabberwocky." The Jabberwocky brought its head down across the path, and Alice side-stepped from it.

She raised the Vorpal Sword. "Off-with-your-HEAD!" She brought it down, and sliced the Jabberwocky's head clean off. It bounced off of the ground once, and rolled down to the bottom of the cliff, as its body dropped completely.

A silence came over the battlefield. The Red Queen's face had a look of panic on it. "She slayed it? She slayed my Jabber-baby-wocky?" she said in a voice one would usually reserve for talking to a young child.

Suddenly, cheers erupted, from both the White and Red Armies. The only two people who weren't excited were the Red Queen, and the Knave of Hearts.

The White Queen came forward towards her sister. The Red Queen pursed her lips. "So then, I suppose I will be executed?"

"That would be against my vow of pacifism," the White Queen said. "No. You will be exiled to the furthest reaches of Underland. And I swear, no being shall ever show you compassion again."

The Knave, in a last-ditch effort to save his own hide, kneeled down before the White Queen. "Oh, your majesty, please would you pardon me? I couldn't disobey the Red Queen, your sister, she-"

"You are as guilty as she is," said the White Queen emotionlessly. "And you will join her in exile."

The Red Queen sighed, as though she really didn't care that she had just lost everything she had gained over the past ten years. "Well, at least we have each other," she said to the Knave.

Though it wasn't...completely obvious, the Knave of Hearts hated the Red Queen, and let her pretend that they were completely and madly in love only so he could retain his own power. But with that gone...

"No." From his clothes, the Knave of Hearts drew out a dagger, and charged at the Red Queen, willing to do anything to avoid spending the rest of his life alongside her. The Mad Hatter was the first person to react, and threw his sword. It knocked the dagger right out of the Knave's hand.

"He tried to kill me," the Red Queen realized with a shock. She looked to the White Queen, as though looking for some help. "He tried to kill me!"

"Of course!" said the Knave of Hearts, his teeth grinding together. "You are the single most irritating woman I've ever met! To survive the rest of my life with you, I would have to tear out your vocal chords!

"I will not waste my days at your side any longer!" An aura of darkness came into being around the Knave. A pillar of dark flames shot up from where he now stood.

"What's happening?" the White Queen exclaimed.

"He's turning into a Heartless," Sora said. He, Donald, and Goofy charged forward, just as the flames were turning to mere embers, then smoke. "Everyone, stay out of the way, this is our territory!"

* * *

_A/N: This is the part where the readers go "Wait, I don't remember the Knave turning into a heartless in the movie." That's because he didn't._

_Apathy (who, if you didn't catch it, was the gunman at the party) and Madness will be showing up more, I assure you of that. And before anyone suggests that they are solely comic relief characters...just wait. Just wait._


	9. Madness

_A/N: Sorry I didn't update all week, my computer had a nervous breakdown and then school kept me busy all the week._

_Disclaimer: I own only the Splices who appear in this chapter, and the design for the Knave of Heartless. Get it? Knave of Heartless, like the Knave of Hearts? Eheheh..._

**Chapter 8: Madness**

**_September 8th: The Frabjous Day, the Chessboard Desert..._**

The smoke began to clear, revealing the Knave's transformation. His body gone, his heart had unleashed its darkness, becoming a black-skinned monster twice his original height. Dark fur had grown across his-its?-body, and horns extended back from its head. Its face was wreathed in shadows, letting only the glowing golden eyes of the heartless be seen. Nowhere on its body was the Heartless Emblem, signifying its status as a Pureblood heartless. Small electrical sparks flickered across its body.

The Knave of Heartless drew a sword, and roared. It swung down, and its sword hitting the ground created a shockwave.

"Goofy! Knocksmash!" Goofy threw his shield in Sora's direction, and Sora used the keyblade like a baseball bat to hit it straight at the heartless boss. It was hit right in the face before the shield flew back to Goofy.

"Sora!" Together, they threw their weapons at the Knave of Heartless, knocking it back several yards.

"Fire!" Sora plugged his ears, and Goofy flew at the heartless with a yell of "YA-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOOEY!"

The heartless roared in pain, and swiped at Sora with its sword, now charged with darkness. While he avoided the initial strike, a wave of darkness swept over him from the blade.

"Cura!" Donald cried, and Sora felt his energy restored.

Sora nodded in thanks, and pointed his keyblade at the heartless. "Flare!" An unstable burst of fire magic came from the tip of his keyblade. Even not-quite perfect, it pierced straight through the Knave of Heartless's chest. He pulled out the Chocobo summon charm, to get the summoned one's attention. "Cloud Runner!"

The bright yellow Chocobo came running. "Kweh!" Sora jumped onto Cloud Runner's back, standing in the saddle, and Cloud Runner bucked so Sora could jump even higher, above even the towering Knave of Heartless. In mid-air, Sora threw the keyblade as hard as he could. "Sky Raid!"

The keyblade spun through the air, and wasn't even stopped by the Knave of Heartless's sword, cut in two diagonally. The Ultima Weapon continued through down at high speed, splitting the heartless down the center. It roared one last time, before dropping to the ground.

Sora landed, and summoned the keyblade back just as the Knave of Heartless burst apart, fading back into the darkness. "Heal," he said, and bursts of green magic appeared over his, Donald, and Goofy's heads.

He turned back to his allies in the White Army. He saw Alice's face go from a smile to panic. She, Donald, Goofy, and the Hatter all cried out his name at once. In the next half-second, he felt a sharp pain in his back, and a short feeling of paralyzation, like he'd been struck with a tazer. He was pushed ten feet across the ground by the impact, his entire side getting scratched up from the rocks.

A screeching laughter came the mouth of the wolf-like Splice, Madness. The weapon on his left arm, a metal piece the size of a shoebox, shifted back into place. As Sora stood up, he tried to figure out what it was. Judging by the prongs on the end of it, his best bet was some kind of stun gun that also augmented Madness's strength.

"The leader doesn't want us to kill you just yet, Sora," Madness said, an unnaturally wide grin on his face. "Guess that's his job. But it doesn't mean I can't rough you up a bit. And there's always your friends I could take down."

"I'm not letting that happen," Sora said. He hadn't planned to get into a brawl with Madness or Apathy, but maybe he'd get lucky, and Madness wasn't as strong as Regret.

Madness moved quickly, punching Sora in his stomach, this time not using the stunning function of his weapon. It knocked the breath out of Sora, but he was able to hit Madness in his head with the hilt of Ultima Weapon. Blood streaked down the left side of his face, but he barely made a notice of it, as he brought his leg around, knocking Sora around and making something crack.

"Firaga!" Orbs of flame spun around Sora, and put a large burn on Madness's chest. "Thundaga!" The lightning bolts barely missed Madness.

"No, no, you don't use electricity against me," Madness said, as though scolding a child. The prongs on his weapon became surrounded with electricity, and he punched Sora straight in his chest, throwing the keyblade master back twenty feet and taking the feeling out of most of his body for a few seconds.

"What is that thing?" Sora grunted, though he didn't expect to get an answer.

"This?" Madness held up the steel device strapped to his forearm. "I call it the Dual Hound. I just love it, it's perfect for me." He suddenly turned around to face Donald, now almost fifty feet away, and punched powerfully into the dirt, discharging the Dual Hound at the same time. A wave of earth swept across the land, and would have knocked Donald into the afterlife if it hadn't been for his very quick use of Aeroga, straight at the ground, sending himself straight into the air.

Madness clicked his teeth. "So close!" He turned casually back to Sora, and moved faster than the eye could normally track. He reappeared just behind Sora, and elbowed him in his shoulder blade. Sora fell flat on the ground again. He tried to push himself up, but Madness pushed him back down with one foot.

"Damn, this is the keyblade master?" He casually reached down and grabbed Sora's left arm. There was a sickening _crack_ as at least one bone was broken. "Maybe I should just turn you into a heartless, right here and now." With his claw-like nails, he put four long cuts into his arm. "It'd be fun to watch you kill all of your friends, don't you think?" He leaned down to Sora, so close that the teenage boy could feel his breath on his face. "Who should I order you to kill first? That stupid duck? The idiot dog? The Princess of Heart? Or should I take you back to Destiny Islands and take down those friends of yours there, the traitor and the slutty princess?"

"_Stop talking._" The pain in his arm and ribcage felt like nothing compared to the anger Sora felt towards Madness right now. "_BURN!_"

A burst of flames appeared right where Madness stood, shocking him enough to make him step off Sora, who jumped right back up.

"Six impossible things," Sora said to himself. "One, I'm in love with a girl who's a princess from another world." A Reflect Spell barely protected him from getting stunned by the Dual Hound again. "Two, there's dozens of worlds outside of my own. Three, there's creatures of darkness called heartless." The wind was knocked out of him when Madness kicked him with the flat of his boot. "Four," he coughed. "I know how to use magic." A freezing Blizzaga spell swept through the air. "Five, I've saved the universe. Twice."

The Kingdom Key appeared in Sora's left hand, and his clothes turned bright red. "Six: I WON'T LOSE!" Sora swept both keyblades through the air, far faster than before. While he still wasn't as fast as Madness, Valor Form decreased the gap by a large amount.

Madness struck at Sora as fast as he could, as Sora both defended himself and went for any opening he could find. Neither made any notice of it when they were injured. But while Sora's movement slowed down with his injuries-no matter how he tried to do the opposite-Madness only seemed to grow faster and stronger.

Sora threw both keyblades as hard as he could, and to his great surprise (and somewhat disgust), they both landed point-forward in Madness's chest. The Splice had an expression of mild shock on his face, and staggered. "Ah..." He looked right at Sora...and grinned. "You fell for that? Wow, then you're even stupider than I thought." He grabbed both keyblades by their shafts, and tugged them out of his chest. He threw them to the ground, and both vanished in flashes of light. "Heh...you didn't see it?"

"What? High-speed healing?"

"Ha! Yeah, right." All of the injuries Sora had delivered onto Madness were still there, but the Splice acted like there was nothing wrong with him. "You're dog food." Madness moved the fastest yet, and delivered a swift uppercut to Sora's jaw. He grabbed the front of his shirt, and lifted him up easily with one hand. Sora gagged as he tried to breathe.

"Your strength...grows..." Sora choked out.

"Really? I didn't notice." Madness cackled as he spun and threw Sora with all of his strength, straight at the cliff that had been the battlefield between Alice and the Jabberwocky earlier.

"Reflega!" A honeycomb shield appeared around Sora, just as he made contact with the cliff. It took all of the kinetic energy out of it. While he certainly got a shock from stopping so suddenly, it beat getting turned to goo against the rocks. He made a mental note to thank Donald after this for the spell.

Sora slowly pushed himself up, and downed a potion. _I'd pay extra for potions if they didn't have an aftertaste that's like vomit. Scrooge would definitely go for that._ The Ultima Weapon and Kingdom Key appeared again. He looked up, and froze.

Madness had gone from being almost a hundred feet away, to two yards in just a few seconds. The Dual Hound was charged with power. "I really thought you'd be more of a challenge."

"Y'know, that's really weird," Sora said thoughtfully. "Because I was thinking the exact same thing. Compared to your boss, you're like a fly." He almost laughed. If he'd fought Madness even yesterday, he wouldn't be bantering with him; for that matter, he wouldn't even be conscious at the moment.

"Kyahahaha!" Madness cackled. "I like you! Tell ya what, Sora. I like you so much, you can die last." He punched at Sora with the Dual Hound, but the Ultima Weapon came up just in time.

Sora's eyes burned with loathing for Madness. "I think I could destroy you right now if I really wanted to, Madness. But when you go running back like a dog with its tail between its legs, tell Regret..."

**_The Splice's Base, Later that Night._**

"He gave Madness a message for you, and I thought it best I deliver it," Apathy said half-heartedly. Regret tapped his fingers on the meeting table impatiently. "He said '_I'm ready._'"

Regret considered this. "Given the other information I've received, I fail to understand why you find it necessary to give this message to me. What exactly was the result of this brawl again?"

Apathy snorted.

"Somebody remind me why I joined you idiots in the first place," said a young man with a sickly green tone to his skin.

"Because if you hadn't, I would have used you to practice my illusion-weaving," said another man beside him, one with leathery skin and scaly wings. "Never forget it, newbie."

Regret ignored them. "I expected no different, Apathy. Sora wouldn't allow himself to be beaten again, after the sound thrashing I gave him in both Radiant Garden and Destiny Islands. I assume Madness didn't use _that_?"

"Of course not, not even Madness is that crazed," said Apathy, now relieved that he wouldn't be dying today.

"I would dispute that, the other day I was able to distract him for almost an hour with a laser pointer," said the young man, whose name was Shame. He then said to the readers "Remember, kids, unless you're a half-heartless monster who can't be killed easily, don't antagonize other half-heartless monsters with a laser pointer, it's dangerous business."

"Do you want me to stab you with a fork again?" said his partner, Suffering. "If not, then I'd have to advise that you _stop doing that!_"

"I know a really good therapist, senpai, he could really help you with your anger issues."

"_I will cut your heart out WITH A SPOON!_"

"I once saw him do that to some kid, it was messed up," said Avarice, the Splice who had taunted Riku on Destiny Islands.

"Oh, boys are all so stupid," said an incredibly beautiful woman. Her eyes shined brightly, her skin unblemished. The only part of her appearance that didn't fit was a white feather boa around her neck. "Don't you agree, Misery?"

The woman with the appearance of being part-shark looked away without a word. "Hmph."

"Fine, don't talk to me," she said. "By the way, Avarice, where's Vanity? Isn't like the professional butt-kisser to miss one of her 'Regret-sama's' meetings."

"How should I know? She's my partner in name only," Avarice said. "But what would I give to get close to her, she's delicious." He licked his fangs at the thought of it.

"She's taking care of some business in another world," Regret said simply. "She has her duties, and you have yours, Desire." The beautiful woman gave him a slight salute-rolling her eyes at the same time-before vanishing. "And the rest of you, begone."

Apathy, Suffering, Shame, Avarice, and Misery all left the meeting room.

Regret thought on what had happened, letting one hand play over his features. "_I'm ready_, hm? I'm so sure, after the sound thrashing Madness gave you."

* * *

_A/N: Madness's Dual Hound comes from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, it's the weapon that Loz used._

_Another half of a chapter in Wonderland, before we move on. Not quite to the next world just yet, but that will be soon._


	10. Sleep

_Oi! Anyone who actually bothers to read the author's notes, I realized that a few things written in the last chapter got in the way of my plans for the rest of the fic, and so I edited it around a little. All of the changes are in the very end of the chapter, in the Splices's meeting._

_I know, I know. This chapter took forever to get up. Don't blame me, blame my Biology teacher and her stupid plant scrapbook assignment. At least I finally got this chapter up. The next one shouldn't take too long, though one never knows. Max time: a month, given that there's three weeks and two days from the day I go back to school and the beginning of Christmas break._

_A big thanks to Nukid for beta-reading this chapter, and generally helping to make it a lot better than it was before._

_Disclaimer: I own only the Splices Madness, Misery, and Vanity, every other character belongs to Disney or the estate of Lewis Carrol_

**Chapter 10: Sleep**

_**September 8**__**th**__**.**_

"Who says I'm running?" Madness snarled. He charged his Dual Hound, and Sora was lucky that he pulled his punch. He just barely got away before Madness stuck so hard as to put a crater into the cliff. Shards of rock flew out from the point of contact, scratching them both all across their bodies. Neither noticed it; for Sora, it was nothing compared to the soreness all across his body; for Madness, it only meant more strength.

Before Madness could see that he'd missed his target, Sora struck him in the back with the hilt of the Kingdom Key, jumped over him as he turned back around, and just barely missed slicing his skull open, instead cutting off two hairs. He kicked off the face of the cliff, and straight back in Madness's direction, kicking him in the back of the head.

Moving more quickly than a normal human (or heartless, for that matter) should, Madness reached back, grabbed Sora's leg as he was struck—barely flinching from the blow—and slammed him face-down on the ground.

"God, what's wrong with you, you were starting to seem like it'd take some effort to take you down. You're losing your touch." Instead of pinning him down, or breaking his bones, or calling a heartless to steal his heart, Madness only turned around and started to monologue. "But then, you and I, we're different. When I fight, I get stronger, and stronger, and stronger. But you, no matter how much you fight, no matter how much you want to win, you'll just get weaker, and weaker, and weaker, until your body gives out from the exhaustion of it all, your blood from the injuries, your sweat from your effort, your tears from seeing all of the people you care about killed or turned into the enemy, spread all across the battlefield."

"Shut—" This time, Sora didn't even get the chance to finish his sentence. Madness discharged the Dual Hound into his back.

"Your body just can't keep up. Don't worry, you're not alone, humans are just so fragile, even if they don't know it."

Madness looked disappointed as Sora stood up, the red in his clothes changing back to black, the Kingdom Key and Ultima Weapon both vanishing. He looked to Madness, and then to Apathy about twenty feet away looking rather…well, apathetic.

"Get out of here."

"Give it up, Madness, it's not worth it. Besides, you know Regret, you kill him and he'll get pi—" A boulder from the cliff fell, muffling the rest of Apathy's sentence.

"Yeah, wouldn't be very fun anyways," Madness said, though more like he was trying to convince himself of that fact.

The two Splices vanished into Corridors of Darkness, and Sora collapsed, his strength spent and heart heavy from the loss.

He was lucky. He was really lucky, and that was his only advantage in a fight like that.

His mind went to the 'message' he'd given to Madness. "_I'm ready_," Sora echoed bitterly. "Like hell I am." The blood on his hands stained the dirt. "Why can't I keep up with them?" he asked the empty air, the cliff, the rotting corpse of the Jabberwocky. "What's wrong with me?"

_**The (Former) Red Queen's Castle...**_

Though he could only see a faint outline, Sora knew that the White Queen was telling the truth of where the keyhole had once been. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out the small drawstring pouch. He carefully pulled out one of the glimmering Keystones, and placed it on the top of the gate. It attached itself to the wood, and glowed even brighter for a moment, before fading slowly.

"Got it."

Donald and Goofy, who had each been holding one of his legs up so he could reach it, let him down slowly.

"Finally safe," Sora said. He tugged the drawstring tight, and replaced it.

Behind them, light glimmered through the thorny bushes, and a path opened up. Alice, back in her old dress, swept her hand across the face of the bush, and the dead roses fell away, and golden buttercups grew in their place.

"The Queen suggested White Roses, but I don't like the thorns," Alice said, holding one of the new flowers, full of life. "When I was sick once, my sisters bought me a bouquet of buttercups. It's so strange, sometimes, how much one might dislike their family, but love them all the same."

"Are ya gonna be goin' home, then?" Goofy asked.

"I...I don't know. I can go home, but what if I can't find my way back again?" Alice said unsurely. "But I also need to know if my family is alright. To choose between these two worlds is an impossible choice."

Sora scratched the back of his head, no ideas coming to mind. Goofy pulled on his sleeve, and all three of them went into a huddle, conversing in hushed tones as Alice waited patiently.

"I don't know, I've never done it on purpose before, it just happened," Sora said quietly. "Can't you do it, Donald?"

"Well..."

A few minutes later, they broke up their huddle, and Donald said "We might got something that can help ya. Do ya have anything that comes from here, something small that reminds you of this world?"

Alice pondered and pondered, digging through her few pockets. "Here!" From the inside of her very filthy dress, she produced a small bottle. Full, it might have only held two mouthfuls of liquid, but it was dry now. Around the neck of the bottle was a tag labeled "Drink Me."

"I don't really know why I hung onto it," Alice said bashfully

"The shrinking potion," Sora remembered. The first time he had dared to sip it, he'd spent half an hour trying to climb back up onto the table to get at the other potion.

Donald drew his staff. "When I tell ya to, push as much light as you can into it." Alice hesitated, before holding it out in her open palm. "Now!"

Alice focused all of her light into the material, not only into the bottle, but the material, every nook and cranny of the glass and the paper and ink of the tag was infused with the power of light, as Donald said an incantation, magic surrounding his staff and flying through the air.

The spell ended faster than it had begun. In a moment, the bright lights had vanished. The bottle gleamed once, and that faded too.

Donald said another spell that would reinforce the glass, so nothing short of a missile would be able to shatter it.

Goofy explained. "Y'know that Bocobo-"

"Chocobo!"

"Yeah, that charm of Sora's? It's like that now-"

"But it works in reverse," Sora said. "Instead of bringing somewhere here to you, it'll bring you here."

"So you can come back here any time you wanted to," Donald said.

Alice was silent, her hands wrapped tightly around the bottle. At any other time, it would have been trash, but this bottle was now the most valuable thing in the worlds to her, more than all the treasure of Treasure Planet. She felt herself start to cry.

"Like Goofy said before; you're our friend, Alice," Sora said. "And that's what we do; help our friends, all of them."

Alice smiled. "Anyone who is a friend of yours is lucky to be so. Thank you so much." She hugged Donald, Goofy, and Sora in turn. "Do you think you'll be able to come back here?"

"We always try our best," Sora said. "But it might not be for a while. There's still a lot of people out there who need us."

Alice nodded, leaned forward, and kissed his forehead. Sora looked stunned, as his cheeks grew hot. "Good luck, Sora."

_**The Highwind…**_

Upon returning to the _Highwind_, Goofy was the only one with enough energy left to set autopilot for the next world. Donald was drained from the spell to give Alice that reverse-summoning charm, and Sora not only had yet to sleep since fighting Madness, not all of his injuries had been healed.

Unlike Donald, Sora didn't even bother getting anything to eat before going to his compartment. He closed the door quietly, and turned off the light.

His bed creaked. He pulled his shoes and jacket off, throwing them haphazardly to the ground. Gritting his teeth, he cast a spell on himself to heal his ribs. They painfully came back into place with a _crack!_ After a moment to recover, he resumed healing himself, using up half a dozen ethers in the process. His skill in healing magic was limited; he was lucky if half of his magical energy went into the spell itself.

With one last burst of green light, he healed the burns Madness had left on his back with his Dual Hound. Sora sighed in relief.

He rolled over on the bed. His body now able to relax, his mind was working at high speed. _I've fought three Splices, Regret, Vanity, and Madness. I know that Regret is the strongest, and he's really strong. But I still don't know how strong Vanity a__nd Madness are compared to the others. If those three are the strongest, I might stand a chance. But if either Vanity or Madness is relatively weak…_

"…then I need to be stronger," he said, finishing his sentence aloud, leading to the question of how he would become stronger. Being taught was a possibility. There was only so far he could go without help.

"Training in magic is okay, but I need something more. But I can't be with a teacher for who-knows-how-long." His mind returned to that keyblade and armor he had found beneath the Heartless Manufactory, the Stormfall. He was convinced that its owner was still around. If he could find her, maybe she was more experienced. And a keybearer might be able to train him while going to the different worlds, instead of having to stay in one place.

_Lots of 'ifs' and 'mights', but you're forgetting something_, he told himself. _How the heck are you going to find her?_

He lifted his hand, and mentally pictured the Stormfall. Thin, with many different segments, and a keychain shaped like a drop of water. He breathed out. Light spun around his hand, and flew out, lighting up the room.

It was the Kingdom Key that appeared. "Humph," he grunted in resignation. He let it vanish. He couldn't say that he was surprised, but he was curious anyways.

His limbs felt like lead. His mind was growing fuzzier by the moment. He wanted to sleep so much. So he did. Not even the nightmares were enough to wake him up.

_**Somewhere in the Realm of Darkness…**_

She hit the ground hard, but jumped right back up. She cast a streak of lightning magic, touched the ground, and a quartet of magical mines formed a barrier. The mindless heartless walked over a mine, and it exploded fantastically.

In that moment of reprieve, she breathed deeply. The shark-like woman watching her, the Splice called Misery, was mildly impressed. "324 Neoshadows and four Wraiths, and only with magic," she said. "Doesn't matter. Should end this already." She gestured, and a pair of Wraiths appeared. On a whim, she said "Hold her down."

The woman made a wreathe of flames around herself, but the Wraiths didn't need to get that close. With practiced movements, their chains sprang out. Their fellows had tried before, but she'd gotten away from them, but now she was tiring. Though she jumped back, the chains came too quickly, looping around her wrists. The Wraiths pulled their weapons taut, and walked closer. They grabbed her wrists as they came near, the fire since extinguished. She tried to pull herself free, or to cast a spell, but she was completely burnt out.

Misery silently came over. The woman's body and the upper half of her face were covered by a black coat, but the Splice could see her scowling. Misery reached out to pull her hood down, but the spell weaver jerked away. "Stop moving." The woman spat at her feet. "Hm."

Misery struck her quickly with the back of her hand. The Wraiths released her as she fell to the ground. Her head was stinging from the blow, but she could feel that—and every other sensation—slowly fading. _N__o, no, no…_

She didn't want to sleep. But unconsciousness took her anyways. Not even being dragged to their castle was enough to wake her up.

_**September 8th, The Flying Dutchman, Port Royal.**_

Rarely did somebody come to the _Flying Dutchman_ of their own will. Most times if they were on deck, their ship had sank at sea, and they were close to dying. And once onboard, one would be given a choice. Death, or a hundred years as part of the crew.

Those who came aboard of their own choice were either insane, stupid, or wished to make a deal with Davy Jones. The first was most common, and the latter occurred only once in a blue moon. In fact, the last time had been thirteen years previous, when a young pirate by the name of Jack Sparrow wished for Davy Jones to raise a very special ship, the _Wicked Wench _(later re-christened the _Black Pearl_), from the depths.

The current 'guest' on the _Dutchman_ was not stupid, and while she was most certainly insane that had no bearing on why she was there. She had somewhat dark skin and darker stripes across her face. Her eyes were slitted like a cat. Her fingers ended in claw-like nails.

Vanity had not come by boat, but through a portal of darkness. She strutted confidently, ignoring the hateful gazes of the monstrous crew members. She would have already been dead had it not been for the two leopard-like heartless that flanked her.

She walked up the steps, and almost immediately found herself face-to-face with a man garbed in clothes befitting that of the captain. His face was sickeningly green, and instead of a beard, tentacles grew from his chin. In place of his left arm was a lobster claw. His right leg was similar to that of a crab. Barnacles encrusted his tricorne hat.

Vanity didn't even flinch at the sight, even smiling slightly. "Davy Jones, I presume?"

"I don't make it the norm to deal with the heartless," said Jones, his voice having a thick Scottish accent to it.

"Ah, but that's the thing, I'm not a heartless, now am I?" Vanity clicked her teeth, and the Leopard Heartless vanished. "Now that they're out of the way, word on the street is you know a lot about things that you really shouldn't. The other worlds, the heartless." She put a hand on her waist. "What I care about is the keyhole of this world."

"What makes ye think I'll say where it is?" Jones' remaining useable hand rested on his sword's pommel.

"Come on, there must be something you want in return, anything. Power over the heartless, maybe? Or perhaps you'd like that curse which prevents you from coming to land broken? No magic from here can do it, but from another world..."

"I don't want anything of the sort." Jones suddenly became thoughtful. "Though...these imbeciles can't do it...aye, perhaps there is a deal we could make. E'er heard of a man called 'Jack Sparrow'?"

Vanity grinned. "What of him?"

* * *

_A/N: Next time in Kingdom Hearts: Connections, Sora, Donald, and Goofy go from a place of madness to a place of chaos, Port Royal! Stay tuned..._


	11. YoHo, A Pirate's Life for Me

_**A/N**: Huh...seven months. I blame AP Biology._

_Forest Gump: And that's all I have to say about that._

* * *

**Chapter 11: Yo-Ho, A Pirate's Life For Me**

"I really didn't think Tortuga would be _this_ bad," Sora said, and held his nose as they passed a pigsty that severely need to be cleaned. He was pulled to a stop by Goofy, just as a drunk passed out at his feet. "Thanks."

"If Jack isn't here, I'm not gonna be happy," Donald grumbled.

"The _Black Pearl_ was in the port, he's got to be somewhere around here," Sora said. "It's either that or Barbossa's come back from the dead. Nobody else would be able to take it away from him."

The last time they'd been here, a year previous, 'Captain' Jack Sparrow had told them that if they ever returned that the only dry land he'd be found on was this island, the lawless, chaotic Tortuga. From the moment of landing on the edge of the pier, Sora, Donald, and Goofy had wanted to turn right around and leave, but Sparrow was the only person that they knew in this world that had any knowledge of the supernatural, and was therefore the best bet for finding the keyhole. Even if he didn't know where it was, he was one of those people greatly involved in the world's events, and just hanging around him would probably lead them straight to the keyhole.

It went against every possible interpretation of the rule 'don't meddle in the world order', but they rarely paid attention to that rule, anyways.

"For that matter, I doubt he'd even let Barbossa take it again," Sora continued. He side-stepped to avoid running into a man stumbling about the road. Yet again, he found himself facing culture shock. The people on his islands, and on the rare occasions he had seen it in other worlds, only drank to celebrate, never getting drunk to escape their sorrows, as these men curled up with a broom in the street clearly were. Even on the rare occasions that somebody did get drunk enough to pass out, somebody usually was kind enough to help them home—or at least they'd get them out of the road!

_I really, really, _really _don't like this place_, Sora thought.

He glanced up at the night sky, and a chill went down his spine. In the northern sky, halfway between the middle of the sky and the horizon, a star shined brightly for a half-moment. His heart sank as the star then vanished. Blinked out, like it had never existed.

"Let's just find Jack already."

* * *

The tumultuous spit of land called Tortuga was well-known for attracting an unsavory lot to its shores. Filled to the brims with pirates and other various outlaws, the royal navy didn't even attempt to take control of it and bring order.

Most men who came to Tortuga were one of two types. Of the first type was those with nothing left to their lives, intent upon spending the rest of their little money and short lives on drink and pleasurable company. Of the second type was pirates in need of crew members, and like several other times before, Captain Jack Sparrow was of the second type, though that didn't prevent him from spending several hours at the 'Faithful Bride', drinking rum and muttering an old sea shanty, "Yo, ho, haul together, hoist the colors high, heave ho, thieves and beggars, never shall we die."

Sora coughed into his sleeve, and muttered '_water_'. A spray of icy-cold water flew from his other hand and washed over Jack's head. Jack sat up, knocked his mug of drink across the room with a flailing hand, and yelled in alarm. "OI! Bloody—stupid—why, what'd you do that for, you mad or somethin'?" he barked.

"We've been trying to get your attention for forever!" Donald snapped.

"Captain Jack, this is really kind of important," Sora said. "Have you ever heard of something called a 'Keyhole', capital K?"

Jack didn't even think about it, said "Never," and took another drink of what was now greatly watered-down rum. "Bugger."

"Come on, Jack, it's really important that we find it, can you pay attention for a second?"

"In case you 'aven't noticed," Sparrow slurred, "We all have our issues, and I really don't care about your stupid Key—key…" A sly and clever smile came across his face, which made one wonder exactly _how_ drunk he was; if, maybe, he acted far more intoxicated than he really was. Given Jack, it would give him an advantage when dealing with somebody who didn't really like him, but then again, humans only had so much resistance to hard liquor.

"What?" Donald asked in suspicion.

"How important would you say it is to find this Keyhole-capital-K?"

"It's life-or-death," Sora said.

"Whose life?"

"Well…yours, for starters."

"Will and Elizabeth's," Donald continued.

"Everybody here, really," Goofy said.

"Ah, I see," Jack said thoughtfully, though he really didn't. See, that is. "Then perhaps there is a way we might assist each other with our various circumstances, in such a way as that is mutually beneficial to both parties."

"So…maybe?"

"Aye," Jack said, throwing his sopping wet hat back on. "Let us adjoin…adjunct…"

"Adjourn?" Sora suggested.

"Adjourn to the _Pearl_. Certain things to be said are a mite…sensitive, to be spoken in these parts."

_I really don't like the sound of this,_ Sora thought.

No sooner had they cleared the doorway of the bar that, for the second time that night, a charge went down Sora's spine. Without him willing it, the keyblade appeared in warning.

Those who still had their wits about them yelled in alarm at the creatures scampering across the cobblestones. A few cried 'demon' or 'devil', a thought only helped by the inability of any gun, sword, or knife to even make one of them flinch.

"Don't they ever stop coming?" Electricity arced off of the keyblade. One Neoshadow ducked into the shadows, and a puddle of darkness formed beneath Sora's feet. He took a half-step back, and sliced it in half when it leaped from its hiding spot. He held up his opposite hand, and a burst of spinning flames flew from his palm. The heartless instantly dissolved into darkness on contact.

"Urgh," Jack grunted. "Hate them crawlies, nasty little things." He drew his cutlass with a swift movement, and parried away one's claws. With his left hand, he drew a knife from his belt, and plunged it hilt-deep into the Neoshadow. He carelessly sliced through its neck, and the heartless turned to dust and smoke.

_Clink-clink-sheeee,_ came the sound of rattling, simple armor, and swords being drawn from sheathes. Three new heartless appeared within the ranks of the Neoshadows, all of the same species. Similar to the Neoshadows, they looked vaguely human in their proportions, and bore no Heartless Emblem. Each wore dingy, steel armor on their shoulders, wrists, and heads, but like the Soldier heartless their glowing yellow eyes were visible through the visor. Each wielded an identical single-edged saber. They were the Raider heartless.

Sora raised the keyblade in preparation. "Captain Jack, can you take care of the Neoshadows?" Sora asked.

"The whatsits?"

"The ones without weapons."

"Ah! Well…if I must." Jack leaned back against a barrel, lit a match, and ignited the fuse of a small bomb. He lobbed it at a cluster of Neoshadows, and it exploded fantastically, leading into his straight attack with sword, gun, and knives.

"Right, let's go," Sora said to Donald and Goofy. No sooner had he said so that one of the new heartless rushed at him. He brought up the keyblade, and the heartless struck at him three times quickly with its saber. He readjusted his sword with each block, and stabbed at the first opening. Swords crossed, and Goofy lunged for the Raider. He knocked it down to the ground with his shield, and Sora pulled both Goofy and himself back to dodge a second knight-like heartless.

"Wonder if these things are like that Wraith back at Radiant Garden," Goofy said. His shield was raised cautiously in front of him. One of the Raiders pulled its blade back. Flames charged on the back side of the saber, and it swung its sword over its head, the fire shooting at them like a rifle. Donald reacted quickly, raising his staff to cast Reflega, bouncing the fire spell back at its caster. "They're usin' magic like that one did, and neither have the Heartless symbol, either."

"Even if they are kind of alike," Sora said, "These ones aren't as strong as the Wraith. Plus…they're kind of thick."

"That's the pot callin' the kettle black," Donald said with a snicker.

Sora could only shake his head. "Watch it!" He pointed the keyblade to the sky, and lightning bolts rained down on the heads of two of the heartless, knocking them away from Donald and Goofy. "Alright, enough joking around, we need to—" He paused to cut down a Neoshadow that had gone for him while his back was turned, and spun back around to parry the attacks of all three Raiders one-by-one. "—get rid of these things! Comet!" Blue and white magic chased down the length of the keyblade, and flew at one of the heartless. But unlike the Comet spell that Donald cast, with sheer power behind it, Sora's spell was still unstable. On impact, the spell caused more of a light show than damage.

_Really gotta work on that one._ Donald cast a powerful Aeroga spell that launched all three Raiders (along with a few stray Neoshadows and Jack's tricorn hat, much to the pirate's chagrin) into the air. Sora flicked the keyblade through the air, and it sliced through a heartless, before spinning back to him. The heartless burst apart into black smoke, its saber dropping into the ground, before exploding into shards of metal.

"One down," Sora said. He raised the keyblade and warded off strikes from the two remaining heartless. He sliced around himself, knocking both back a step, and pointed his sword at them. "Freeze!" Shards of ice exploded from the tip and spread like a shotgun blast, stopping them in their tracks—for a moment, at least. "Captain Jack, you okay over there?"

Jack stopped running from a _very_ annoyed Neoshadow to sputter madly at Sora. "Of course! I'm just _bloody_ _fantastic!"_ He about-faced, lowered his cutlass, and sliced upwards as the Neoshadow leapt for him, his timing perfect to cut it in half vertically.

Sora hesitated, before flashing him a thumbs-up. He turned back to one of the heartless he was fighting, and keyblade met saber as it charged at him. Sora put his second hand on the keyblade's grip to push the Raider's saber down. Sora delivered a kick straight to the chest of the heartless, and sliced straight down. The heartless screeched, before turning to black dust, and its weapon to ash.

_Two down_.

"Come on, let's finish 'em off!"

A spray of fireworks erupted from Donald's wand, homing in on any heartless and exploding on impact. As heartless were stunned and knocked into the air by continuous explosions, Sora, Goofy, and Jack went after them with sword and shield, destroying each with one attack.

Sora spotted the last of the Raiders, charging a fire spell on its saber. Sora sprinted at the heartless, his own flames tracing the edge of the keyblade. He rolled to the side of the heartless to avoid the fire blast, and sprang back up, slicing straight through the Raider. As its fellows had before it, the Raider remained for a half-moment, before exploding into black smoke and a few embers. The saber vanished.

Sora dismissed the keyblade, and tucked his hands behind his head. Captain Jack looked less than impressed. "Trouble just seems to follow ye, don't it?"

* * *

"Raise the sails! Batten down the hatches!" Jack shouted across the deck to scrambling crewmembers, most of whom were still mostly asleep. "Mr. Gibbs!"

A somewhat portly man with a beard and a receding hairline, Jack's right-hand man Joshamee Gibbs was perhaps the only person on the Black Pearl, besides Donald and Goofy, whom Sora felt was a genuinely decent person. Sure, Jack Sparrow was a friend of his, and they'd fought alongside each other plenty of times, but other times, Sora really wasn't sure how much he could depend upon Jack.

"Set a course for Port Royal," Captain Jack continued. Mr. Gibbs nodded, and continued to bark orders to the crew.

"Why Port Royal?" Sora asked Jack.

"As I said, this is a mite sensitive to be spoken amongst others," Captain Jack said. "To the captain's quarters."

He led them to his quarters, walking with his casual swagger, momentarily tripping over himself when the anchor was raised and the _Black Pearl_'s deck shifted. In the captain's quarters, Jack took a seat, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy sat on the opposite side of the desk.

"Now, then," said Jack. "Tell me; 'ave the three of you ever heard of Davy Jones?"

Sora nodded, while Donald and Goofy shook their heads. "Um…I grew up on an island, so stories like that are all we ever hear about," Sora said awkwardly.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Then would you mind getting your friends up to date, as I don't particularly enjoy story-telling."

Donald and Goofy looked to Sora, as he collected his thoughts. "Okay…

"Once, long ago on the seven seas, there lived a grand sailor and pirate, by the name of Davy Jones. But despite his power, Jones had a weakness; his love and devotion. For his love, Calypso was her name, he agreed to take on the duty of ferrying lost souls into the afterlife; the souls of those who had died at sea." _Drowned, just like her._

Sora bit his lip to clear his thoughts. "By taking on this duty, he would be forced to stay at sea for ten long years. But Calypso promised him that on the day that he returned to land, she would be waiting for him. So aboard his ship, he carried the souls of the dead from one plane to another, only to find that, at the end of the ten years, Calypso was not waiting for him.

"Betrayed and heartbroken, Jones did the only thing he could to relieve the pain; he cut out his own heart, and placed it into a chest; the Dead Man's Chest.

"From then on, Jones became a terror of the seas, ruling over every ocean with his ship, the _Flying Dutchman_."

Captain Jack suddenly cut in. "And he would not die; killing him requires a rather round-about fashion."

"Destroying his heart?" Goofy guessed.

"Aye. And thus is why I require the assistance of Zola and his key."

Sora paused for a second. "Hold on—you mean—that's just a story!"

"Lots of things are 'just stories' mate, but stories tend to have a grain of truth to them," Captain Jack said impatiently. "I seek the heart of Davy Jones; I cannot obtain the key to the chest, for he keeps it on his person at all times. I have the—well, not _I_ so specifically, but I have _access_ to the 'Dead Man's Chest'."

"Who has the chest?" Donald asked.

Captain Jack muttered something under his breath. "That would be our mutual friend William, as he wisely does not trust me to keep it in my own possession. That fact, however, at this time is unimportant, what is more important is that without the key, it may not be opened."

"So you want _me_ to open the Dead Man's Chest," Sora said. "But how is that mutually beneficial to both—I mean, what do we get for helping you?"

From the folds of his clothing, Sparrow produced his compass, which if Sora remembered right was broken, and therefore useless. "You said it was important to reach this 'keyhole', yes? Life or death, all that rubbish?" He flicked the lid of the compass open, and placed it down. "This is a very _special_ compass, it is. Once must only focus on their heart's greatest desire, and it will point the way."

Sora's eyes widened. "So, I open a chest, and you'll give us the compass?"

"_Lend_ you the compass," Jack emphasized.

"Same difference, it'll lead us straight to the keyhole," Sora said. He crossed his arms over his chest. If it really worked like Sparrow said it did, it'd be easy to find the keyhole, seal it, and place a Keystone, nice and quick.

Sora looked to Donald and Goofy. Goofy shrugged with a rather neutral look on his face—a way of saying "It's up to you." Donald nodded in favor of the bargain.

"Okay, Captain Jack," Sora said, holding out his hand. "Guess you've got a deal." A smile betrayed Jack's poker face, as he and Sora shook on it.

But Sora couldn't help but wonder: _what do they want the heart of Davy Jones for?_


	12. The Chest of Davy Jones

_A/N: New chapter. Yay._

_Vanity is of my own creation. Speaking of which, as with the Unversed being themed around emotions, on a similar token I had no idea that Master Xehanort's apprentice was going to be named 'Vanitas'. Sheer freaking coincidence right there._

_By the way, while one might not have noticed it last chapter, you'll notice it this chapter; the plot of this is greatly diverging from the movie, for two reasons: 1) It would have taken around 7 chapters to get through all that plot, and 2) It's a pet peeve of mine when people go the exact same route that the game did in Kingdom Hearts II, when they complain about the Disney worlds being filler; the Kingdom Hearts characters are, for the most part, ignored, while the plot is fully identical._

_Okay, done ranting._

**Chapter 12: The Chest of Davy Jones**

_**Destiny Islands, September 10**__**th**__**.**_

She took a deep breath, and swept her arm out to the side. "Still nothing…" She reached out with an open palm, and imagined in her mind's eye that flowered keyblade appearing in a flash of light. Nothing. _If I can carry it, why can't I call it? Ngh…_

Kairi sat down on the bent paopu tree's trunk, frustrated. She picked at a stray thread on her dress. _I should really get rid of this dress, it's been in my closet for over a year, now. Wouldn't mind some new shoes, either,_ she thought off-handedly.

She was suddenly snapped out of her musings: "Hey, Kairi! Didn't expect to see you out here!" Kairi looked to the ever-cheerful Selphie running down the pier. "Mind if I sit down?"

Kairi shook her head. "Of course not, why would I mind?"

"Well, Riku _did_ kind of claim this spot when we were all little, and the three of you always took it." Selphie sat down on the tree trunk after Kairi had scooted over. "So, what's on your mind?"

"Same as usual."

"Stars, oversized keys, magic, and worrying about Sora, you mean?"

Kairi felt oddly bothered by how casually Selphie talked about things outside of their world; like it was some big play-pretend game like they had played when they were little. "I guess, yeah, but other stuff, too, stuff closer to home." Kairi bit her lip. "So…you have a date to the fall formal yet?"

"Nah, I might just go with Tidus as friends if nobody asks me," Selphie said, readily clinging to the far more positive topic. "What about you? Has Riku asked yet?"

Kairi turned red. "Wh-what? N-no, did he say he was?"

"Well…no…" Selphie said awkwardly. "But, I kind of assumed that you and him were…you know?"

"No!" Kairi's entire face was scarlet, and she cursed being born a redhead—everyone could tell exactly what she was thinking. "Riku and I aren't—no! We're friends, but no that way! He's like my older brother!" Kairi covered her face in embarrassment.

Selphie opened and closed her mouth, looking for the right words. Finally, bashfully, she muttered "Sorry. I just…I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay," Kairi said quietly, "It's okay, you…didn't know…"

Kairi felt one of her pockets for a seashell—a unique thalassa shell pigmented in shades of blue.

_"I found it out on the beach yesterday, thought you might like it, since you like seashells so much."_

Kairi smiled softly. She looked up at the setting sun, casting colors across the ocean. She pulled a small notebook and a box of colored pencils from the black pouch she had on her hip, flipped to the next clean page, and her hand flew across the page to copy the sunset before her, violet, blue, red, orange, yellow, and every other mix of color there wasn't a name for.

She rubbed in the last bit of color, blending the color of the sun and the sky just on its edges. She turned back a few pages in the sketchbook—rough sketches of parts of the island, of her friends, her adoptive parents.

"You're so lucky, having a talent like that," Selphie said enviously. "Here's me, still only able to do stick-figures, and you just pick up a pencil a few months ago and start drawing like it's natural."

"I'm not that good," Kairi said, shaking her head. "Someone I met once…she was a lot better than me, better than I ever will be." She turned to another page—a girl in a white dress, looking out a window into a night sky. The next page—a dark castle at the end of a long, winding road.

…_Namin__é__._

* * *

_The boy stood on the edge of the pier, silently looking out at the sea._

She _walked on the surface of the water, her bare feet drawing ripples on the sea, otherwise as smooth as glass. _She _was youthful; her eyes were kind, her straight brown hair just below her chin. She pushed a loose strand of hair out of her eyes. Her lips moved._

_ "What? I can't—please!" he yelled. _She_ smiled sadly, and offered her hand to him. He reached out as far as he could, stretched his hand, brushed his fingertips against hers—and before his eyes, the wind kicked up, and her hand turned to grains of sand whipping through the air, arm and body disintegrating into dust._

_ "NO!"_

_ The ocean was aflame; the sky was breaking apart like glass. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe; blistering cold ice traced along his body in a thick layer, encasing him in moments._

_ "So _ice_ to see you again," said that man with a single black wing and a cold gaze._

_ The pier split beneath him, and Sora fell deep into the black. He heard a wicked laugh of triumph…then nothing._

Sora came awake slowly. The deck of the _Black Pearl_ rocked beneath him. The sea was calm. His heart was still beating a mile a minute.

* * *

_**The Black Pearl, Port Royal, September 11**__**th**__**.**_

"Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirate's life for me, we pillage and plunder, we rifle and loot, drink up me hearties, yo-ho…" At a loss for the rest of the lyrics, Sora just kept on humming the tune while tapping lightly on a barrel lid to the beat.

"We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot, drink up me hearties, yo-ho," Captain Jack muttered. He shook his head, and waved it off.

"By the way," Sora said, "I think I've got a clue as to why you want that chest so badly."

Sparrow squirmed in discomfort. The fingers of his left hand—Sora noticed for the first time that he had a make-shift bandage wrapped around the back of his hand—curled and uncurled quickly.

"If you destroy the heart, Davy Jones will die, right? So, you probably want something from him; 'Obey my commands or I'll kill you', right?"

Jack carelessly brought his hands up from his sides. "Aye, Zola, you have me, I have certain goals in mind with this; but don't let it slip your mind that William has a large stake in this as well, savvy?"

"Yeah, I got it."

From the Crow's Nest, a pirate yelled down to the deck "Captain, Port Royal off the Starboard bow!"

"Bin takin' long enough," Jack muttered, as he grabbed the spyglass from his belt. He pulled it out to its full length, and stepped up to the railing. He peered through the spyglass. "…Bugger."

"What's wrong?" Sora asked. He swiped the spyglass from Jack's hands, and looked himself. After a moment, he found what had been a speck to the naked eye. "Oh, no."

Port Royal was burning.

* * *

**_Port Royal, That Night._**

"Hey, you two!" Sora yelled at two pirates looting a lady's clothing store. At least one was; the other was chasing down his wooden eye. _What were their names again…_ "Pintel! Ragetti! Quit it!" He fired a blizzard spell over their heads in warning, and both jumped. Both scampered off.

"Like there's not enough to worry about," Sora muttered. "Watera!" A massive spray of water from the tip of the keyblade extinquished the flames that had been edging along a roof. "Why can't it ever be simple!" he exclaimed, punctuating each word with an ice or water-element spell.

The fire had started burning around six hours previous to their arrival, and spread through four streets before a full fight was put up against it. It was, primarily, soldiers in the royal navy fighting the fire, although many of the citizens were assisting in any way they could, a couple of the crew of the _Black Pearl_ were assisting (although, like Pintel and Ragetti, most were taking the opportunity to loot the abandoned stores), Sora and Donald were casting as many water and ice spells as they could, and Goofy was both storing ethers on his person for the aforementioned when they got low on magic, as well as throwing buckets of water on the fire.

Captain Jack Sparrow was nowhere to be seen.

"Sora!" Donald yelled.

"Right!" White sparks of magic gathered on the edge of the keyblade, as he and Donald stood beside each other, facing a tailor's shop. "Aeroga!"

"Waterga!"

A massive burst of wind flew from Sora's keyblade, while a geyser erupted from Donald's staff. The fire was just barely extinguished—an extra Water spell got rid of the few embers remaining.

Sora was panting from exhaustion. "Th-this isn't so easy…" He took a deep breath, and dashed down the road, casting quick water spells on small fires, before they could go out of control.

Somebody called out his name. As he slapped away an ember on his sleeve, he looked around for the source of the voice. "Oh—Elizabeth!" Elizabeth Swann, hitching up her skirt (_At least it isn't one of those huge poofy ones_, he thought) and running toward Sora as quickly as she could. "Have you seen Jack?"

"I didn't even know he was here," Elizabeth admitted. "Have you seen Will?"

"Sorry, no," Sora said. He jumped at a sudden _CRASH_ of a roof starting to collapse. "Come on, we'll get you out of here. It's all stonework out by the rampart, you'll be safe there." He offered a hand to her, but she shook her head.

"No, I can handle myself," Elizabeth said. "But please, Sora, do be careful!"

"I'm always careful!" Sora said as he stepped backwards without looking. With an audible _thunk_, he tripped over his own feet and fell on his back. Elizabeth smiled softly, before nodding, and heading for the rampart.

Sora pushed himself back up, and dusted himself off. "You do that," he said dizzily.

He threw another blizzard spell at a flame, before catching a glimpse of the sky overhead. Just a bit ago, the flames had blended into the dusky orange sky, but as the fire became weaker, and the sky became darker, it was easier to tell where one ended and the other began.

"Donald, Goofy, come on!" Sora called. "We should go find Jack and Will!"

"But the fire's still goin'," Goofy said hesitantly.

"It's under control, I don't think we need to help anymore," Sora said. Though it went against his instincts to leave a job like this half-finished, logic told him that if they stayed here and tried to fight the fire further, they would only exhaust themselves, along with waste time; time that they didn't have.

"A'right," Donald said, waddling after Sora. He and Goofy followed him, as they scoured the roads for either man. The smoke was thicker in some places, and made it hard to see; Sora had to cast more magic to clear it away. They were nowhere in the town, so they went for the fort, the same direction Elizabeth had gone earlier.

As they ran through the open passageways, nary a sailor in sight, though he glanced over his shoulder several times, Sora couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.

"At long last, Zola joins us," said Captain Jack, throwing his hands up in the air.

"So-ra!" the boy enunciated.

In the middle of the courtyard on the rampart, standing near the gallows, Captain Jack Sparrow, William Turner, and Elizabeth Swann stood. Will had one arm around Elizabeth, one hand on an old, iron chest, around a foot-and-a-half wide, and a little under a foot in height and length. On all surfaces of the chest were designs resembling intertwining sea serpents. On close examination, the lock proved unique; rather than a normal skeleton key, the key for this chest would consist of two prongs.

"That sword of yours, it can open the chest?" Will said immediately.

" 'Hello' to you too," Sora said sarcastically. The Keyblade appeared in a flash of light. "Yeah, it should." Will and Elizabeth stepped back, leaving the chest sitting on the deck of the gallows. "So, any chance you'll tell me why you want what's in the chest, Will?"

Sora didn't expect an answer, and so was surprised when Will said "My father was pressed into Davy Jones' crew. Killing Jones is the only way to free him."

"I thought your dad was dead, or something…right, cursed with the Aztec gold, dropped into the ocean weighted down by a cannonball, and when we removed the curse…" Sora's nose wrinkled up at the sudden realization.

"Yes, but fortunately for Bootstrap Bill Turner—or unfortunately, as the case may be—Jones picked him up," Jack said.

"So the two of you found the chest, or something," Sora said slowly, "And you didn't trust Jack to destroy the heart once he got the key, so you kept the chest, am I right?"

"A lot brighter than you look," Jack remarked.

"I'm gonna take that as a compliment," Sora said. He turned to face the chest, and raised the keyblade. A spark of light appeared on the tip. A thin beam shot from the keyblade to the lock. In the anxious silence, the _click_ of the lock coming open seemed to echo.

The lock on the Dead Man's chest split apart, and mechanical pieces spun. Deadbolts in the lid slid out of their own accord.

_And here's me thinking that we'd have to go on some complicated, convoluted, nonsensical quest to find the real key after the keyblade wouldn't open it,_ Sora mused.

William pulled a knife from his sleeve, and went for the chest. Jack darted between him and it. "Now, wait a moment dear William, we have a great leverage here, why should it be thrown away like this?"

"I swore an oath that I would free my father," William said firmly. "Now get out of my way, Jack!"

"I can't let you do that, mate," Jack said in return. "I've too much dependin' on it." In a quick movement, he drew a flintlock pistol from the holster on his waist, and leveled it at Will's heart. "Now, give me that."

Will's hand trembled as he slowly handed over the knife. "Right, then:" Jack turned to grab the chest up. His mouth opened, closed, and opened again. He ran his hand over the wood deck where he had almost been hung on at least three occasions. "Wheresit? Where's the thump-thump?"

"Looking for this?" Sora taunted, as he held the Chest of Davy Jones up as high as he could. "Hey, Jack, were you ever planning on 'lending' us the compass?" Jack muttered something incomprehensible. "Right, you're the one who said 'You can always trust a dishonest man to be dishonest', yeah? Anyways: compass." Sora hefted the chest over one shoulder, and held his free hand out. Jack started digging for the compass which would point to the greatest desire of one's heart.

"Excuse me?" called someone from the shadows of the fort. "But which one of you is 'Captain' Jack Sparrow? But, then again—" She stepped out into the moonlight. Sora recognized her instantly. "—I'm looking for a pirate, and we've got some blacksmith boy, the governer's spoiled daughter, two of that king's lackeys, and a keyblade-kid who's too big for his britches, and a single pirate."

"Vanity," Sora growled.

"He~ey," said the Splice, grinning from ear to ear.

"Heard Madness really knocked ya around some," Vanity said. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine what it looked like. "Oh, how I wish I could have been there, but my Lord Regret had other things for me to do, unfortunately. Too bad, so sad."

"What are you doing here?" Sora's eyes widened in alarm. "The chest—"

Vanity waved at him dismissively. "Nah, I don't care about your little chest. Besides, in a few hours, none of that's gonna be of any importance."

"Who d'you think you are?" said Sparrow, on edge given that she had implied she was looking for him.

"Remember how I said that finding that keyhole was a matter of life and death?" Sora said. He gestured at Vanity. "She's the one on the side of death."

"…Oh."

"So, you're Jack," Vanity said. Her fingers slipped along her face as she spoke, tracing the tiger stripe-like markings on her skin. One of her claw-like nails scratched her. She wiped away the drop of blood, and slowly licked it off of her finger. "Davy Jones wants your head."

"So I've heard," Jack said.

"Wait, what? You…what did you _do_ to get Davy Jones on your bad side?" Sora said incredulously.

"It was just a deal," Vanity said carelessly. "Captain of the _Black Pearl_ for 13 years, yes? Then, at the end, 100 years of servitude aboard the _Flying Dutchman_. Of course, he ran. Got him the Black Spot, and the Krakken on his tail."

Sora winced. Most kids tell ghost stories—Riku told stories about the Krakken, ones that kept him up all night after hearing them. A monstrous giant squid, the Krakken was large enough to destroy a ship with ease, and followed the orders of Davy Jones himself.

Captain Jack was expressionless, as he removed the piece of cloth from around his left hand, revealing a bubonic plague-like boil on his palm—the Black Spot, which would draw the Krakken to his location if he were at sea.

"You still haven't answered my first question, why are you here?" Sora snapped.

"My, my, curious, are we? Or…" In a burst of darkness, one of Vanity's tonfa appeared. "…are you just trying to keep me talking so you don't have to get beaten into the ground again?" She sighed. "I suppose…well, just like Sparrow's deal with Jones, I've got a little deal with Davy Jones myself. I bring him Jack Sparrow, and Jones, well…"

Violet and black energy glowed in Vanity's other hand. "Jones will tell me where the keyhole is."

"What?" Goofy yelped.

"Dere's no way!" Donald tried to convince himself.

"No," Sora said quietly. He chucked the chest at Will, and raised the keyblade, ready to fight. "You won't get this world, Vanity!"

"I won't…" A gleeful smile burst onto Vanity's face, and she crossed her arms over her chest to hold herself, as though to prevent herself from bursting with amusement. "_Hehehe_," she giggled. She couldn't restrain herself, and burst out in insane laughter. "I _love_ when they say that! 'You won't hurt my friends any more', 'I'm gonna stop you if it's the last thing I do!' There's nothing better than that moment when one of those 'determinator' types finally just _gives up_, all of their hope shattered! Those moments—they are why I live on!"

Sora was silent. His body was shaking.

Vanity pursed her lips. "Hm? What's the matter, kiddie? Giving up already, aw, that's no fun." A second tonfa appeared, and she glided across the ground, not making a sound as she swept her arm at him.

_Duck_. Sora dropped a few inches, and Vanity missed completely. He pulled the keyblade around as hard as he could, and struck Vanity in the stomach with the hilt of the keyblade. She sucked in breath as she dropped back again.

"Lots of guts but no brains," Vanity spat. She _tsk'd_ at him like a disapproving teacher. "Not a good combination."

Vanity pointed at Jack. "I'm only here for you. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

"How about _no_ way!" Sora shot back. "He might be a pirate, but Jack's a friend, too!"

"Hm…" Jack murmured in thought. "Hold it a moment, Zola." He took a step forward, to halfway between Vanity and Sora. "You…Vanzy, was it? No, no, Vanity, yes? Yes. A deal with Jones you made, yes? So, you must have little issue with making a deal. You seek this 'keyhole', and I'd very much rather avoid Davy Jones' Locker. There may be a way that we can assist each other."

"Jack, what are you doing?" Sora said suspiciously. Alarms were going off in his head.

Vanity looked curious. "I'm listening."

"I have a compass here," Captain Jack said, pulling it off of his belt, "that will point you to your heart's greatest desire." Vanity's eyes lit up. "Let me go free, and it's yours."

It took Sora a few moments to register what Jack was saying. "Jack…you…I just said…friend…" he spluttered. His hand gripped the keyblade so hard, his knuckles were turning white.

Donald squacked nigh-incomprehensibly: "You no-good—"

"—double-crossing—" Goofy continued.

"Cowardly traitor!" Sora finished, and lunged for the compass. Vanity was faster—her tonfa struck him in the chest, and knocked him back into Donald and Goofy.

Vanity dismissed one of her tonfa, and extended a hand to Captain Jack. "I think we have a deal, Captain Sparrow."

Jack dropped the compass into her hand, and turned for a moment back to the others. If looks could kill…

"Until next time, Elizabeth," Jack said with a slight doff of his hat. To the others, he shrugged. "Pirate."

* * *

_A/N: Until next time, dear readers!_


	13. Pirate

_A/N: Last chapter of Port Royal, you'll probably see the most similarities to Dead Man's chest in this chapter, especially near the end. Also, I'd like to note the text formatting I'm using essentially from here on out:_

_Italics:_ Thoughts, most likely Sora's thoughts.

_"Italics in Quotation Marks.":_ A ghostly or otherwise not-quite-there being.

**Bold:** Most often in quotes, it's a memory of Sora's (might also be the title of a chapter, but that's a matter of context)

_**Bold and Italics:**_ Date/location

_I really don't care that it's not very professional to use specific formatting methods for different speakers, but this is a site for fan-fiction. Nobody comes on here expecting a whole lot of professionalism._

_Last we saw Sora, Donald, and Goofy, Captain Jack Sparrow had betrayed them?_

* * *

**Chapter 13: Pirate**

Captain Jack scampered away like a rat.

"Huh," said Vanity playfully, turning the magical compass over in her hand. "What was that about him being your friend? What a poisonous friend, he is."

_Jack…he's gotta be planning something, right? Setting her up to let us take her down, he swoops down out of nowhere and attacks alongside us…right?_ "Vanity…"

"Hmph." She flicked open the lid of the compass, and watched it curiously as the needle swung about. "Point me in the direction of my heart's greatest desire? Well, that would be to serve my Lord Regret. And to do that, I must find…ah-ha." The needle finally settled. She looked away from Sora, Donald, and Goofy, out in the direction of the sea. "Let's see where you lead me, shall we?"

"Where d'you think you're going?" Sora snapped.

Vanity glanced back at him. "And then there's you," she said quietly. She shut the compass. "The poor little keyblade kid. Honest to Kingdom Hearts, I would've thought something like that would have sent you into an angst coma, with how you heroes are about friends. How disappointing."

"You were expecting me to despair? Give up?" Sora leveled the tip of the keyblade at Vanity. "Wrong!"

"Sora's right," Goofy said, raising his shield. "There's too much at stake!"

Vanity pocketed the compass, and raised both arms. "Give me your best shot, then, key-brat!" Sora rushed her, and keyblade clashed against tonfa. Sora gripped the keyblade with both hands, trying to break Vanity's guard. Both weapons dropped, and Vanity went for Sora before he could recover. Her foot impacted with his chest, and pushed him back.

Sora somehow stopped himself from falling over, and he looked over his shoulder to Will and Elizabeth—Elizabeth was standing behind Will, while Will had drawn his blade but looked uncertain as to whether he should join the fight. "This is way over your head, Will! I'll cover you, you just need to get away from here!" Sora looked back, and clumsily blocked a thrust at his neck. _She's fast!_ Sora deflected several consecutive attacks. _Can't stay at close range, she'll get through my defenses too easily, but I can't get any distance from her like this. And I don't have a lot of magic power left…_ Sora prepared to cast a powerful spell. He recalled looking forward to being able to utilize it for real after his training with Merlin, but now he wasn't happy about it at all.

Orbs of fire magic rotated around the keyblade, and he aimed very carefully. "Fission Firaga!" A large burst of fire shot at Vanity, and exploded on impact. Sora tensed as the explosion went off, and he and Vanity were thrown in opposite direction; Sora towards the gallows, Vanity away from Will and Elizabeth.

"Blizzaga!" Donald yelled, and shards of ice hit Vanity, and froze her right arm to the shoulder. She swore, and forcefully broke the ice holding her elbow. Her eyes flashed angrily.

"Nice," Sora said quietly. He checked all around, and Elizabeth and Will were nowhere to be seen. Sora cast a spell to heal himself from the explosion. He was breathing deeply again from exhaustion—first running around trying to put out fires, then running around trying to find Jack, now fighting a Splice, and he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. It was all taking a toll on his body. "Alright, need to keep up with her speed, and can't get too close."

Sora took a deep breath.

Light burst out around him. The black of his clothes turned to blue, and stylized flames chased along his pant legs and sleeves. Magical deep blue mist surrounded his feet. Wisps of blue smoke twisted around his body. Though Sora rarely used Wisdom form, on certain occasions it proved very useful.

Sora leapt back as Vanity lunged for him, and fired off a spray of magical bullets. She deflected each of them, and attacked with the other tonfa. Sora dropped to the ground, and slid backwards on his back. He aimed, and fired another volley. Vanity stepped aside, and ducked beneath yet another round. Sora pushed himself back up and moved just enough to avoid an overhead swipe, grabbed Vanity's shoulder, and whipped himself behind her, putting the keyblade to her throat.

"Che," Vanity grunted. With the arm still partially encased in ice, she struck Sora's side, pushed the keyblade away, turned, and hit him in the wrist. She flipped her free tonfa to hold it by the end, and hooked the handle of her tonfa in the keyblade's pommel. She yanked down hard, wrenching it from Sora's grip.

Sora shook out his hand from the sting, and dropped back a step. "Thunder!" Electricity arced through the air, and Vanity's metal tonfa only conducted the flow. She barely paused a moment, continuing her charge at Sora. The keyblade reappeared in his hands just in time to defend first his stomach, then his head.

"Huff, huff, huff," Vanity breathed, a scowl twisting her features.

"So she's not like Madness," Sora muttered. "Stays the same strength, even when injured."

"We each have our own abilities," Vanity spat. "That _dog_ Madness is nothing more than a berserker, a blood knight. I have much more practical abilities; ones far more useful to Lord Regret." Her claw-like fingernails glowed with dark magic. "Without me, his plans would be far more slow-going. Oh, they would still succeed, certainly, but I'm an important cog in the machine." She threw away her tonfa, and leaped after Sora with a speed that left her nearly invisible. With great glee, she raked her claws down Sora's arm. He cried out from the pain.

"Yes, yes," Vanity said quietly. "These claws…they, I, have the power to re-open those keyholes you're so determined to protect."

Sora's eyes widened. _Whoa, whoa, WHOA, hold on a second! That's…she's what?_ He shook his head, freed himself from Vanity's grip, and kicked off her chest. From midair, he fired off magic bullets, and instantly upon landing he yelled "Aeroga!" He was blown back himself, as a mini-tornado erupted from the tip of the keyblade, and blew the off-balance Vanity back thirty feet, straight into the stone wall of the fort.

"You little…"

"Now, guys!"

Goofy, hiding in the shadows, dashed out and slammed into Vanity with his shield, before immediately getting out of the way, as Donald cast an earth-element spell that caused pillars of earth to erupt from the ground at angles, aiming for Vanity. The first struck her, she ducked beneath another, vaulted over a third, and smashed a fourth and fifth to pebbles.

A volley of magic bullets struck Vanity straight-on. She grunted in pain, before going after Sora again, ignoring Donald and Goofy; a very bad idea, as it turned out. The moment she turned her back on them, Donald cast a flurry of fire, blizzard, and thunder spells.

Vanity swore loudly, and threw her one free tonfa at Donald. Donald jumped to avoid getting hit, and Vanity assaulted Sora with the tonfa frozen to her arm. Her attacks came with incredible speed, punching, swiping, and kicking. Blocking with the keyblade wasn't enough; Sora cast Reflect, creating a honeycomb barrier around himself. With each attack, the shield shattered, forcing him to create another each time. He couldn't dodge; he couldn't parry.

_Unless…_ As the shield shattered again, Sora forced himself to relax. No shield appeared, and Vanity's weapon impacted his chest, throwing him back.

"Too slow!" Vanity taunted, as she went to finish him off. The ice that covered her arm started to melt, as her tonfa was encased in black sparks of magic. She raised her arm slowly, relishing in the moment. "That makes, what, four losses now? Tsk, tsk, you're losing your touch."

_Now!_ Sora pushed himself off the ground. He flew past Vanity's side, and she could only watch as he passed.

_That boy_, she realized, _he wasn't downed by my attack, he wasn't too slow; he took the charge and minimalized the damage by not resisting it. But they said…they said he was just a stupid little kid…_

"Gotcha!" Sora exclaimed. He waved the hand holding the compass at Donald and Goofy. He stored it away into one of his bottomless pockets, and turned back to Vanity.

Vanity felt the pocket where she had put the compass, unable to believe that Sora had stolen it off of her. "You'll _pay for that_!" As she leaped after Sora, he raised the keyblade. A spray of gold and violet sparks sprayed from their respective weapons as they collided. Vanity's tonfas were crossed over one-another, and Sora held the keyblade with both hands. He grunted as he tried to keep the Splice's spark-spitting weapon of choice away from his face. He focused all of his magic into the keyblade, and it started to glow with white light.

The blue started to fade from his clothes, and the mist vanished from beneath his feet, but still further Sora fought to break Vanity's guard.

_I can't take this much more…_ Sora tried to push harder, one last assault, but there was nothing left; his frustration towards himself for not being able to overcome his opponents thus far, his despair at the loss of each world, his fury at Captain Jack Sparrow, and his determination to protect this world, none of that was enough to give him the resolve to defeat Vanity.

**"Come on, Sora, I thought ****you**** were stronger than that."**

** "Get real. Look at which one of us is winning!"**

_He'd kill me if I lost again._ A sensation like weight lifting from his body filled Sora up. The keyblade glowed bright. "Grrrrr-YAAAAAH!"

For a moment, Vanity thought that nothing had happened.

Then, a thin line sliced across her weapons. Without a sound, the tonfa were cut in half. The bottom halves hit the ground with a _clink_.

As she watched, her weapons burst apart into imperceivable shards of steel. Vanity's hands shook. "You…" Her hair was disheveled, her suit had been cut, burned, and partially frozen dozens of times over now by now. "You…it doesn't matter!" she shouted, as she backed away from Sora.

"It doesn't matter!" she repeated. "Lord Regret will defeat you, keyblade brat! Perhaps not even him, there are others, stronger than I! I am not too proud, too proud to admit that yes, among our number, there are others with far greater strength than I! But you…you walk away from this battle, thinking you've got a chance! But just remember, the pride always comes before the fall!"

A dark corridor materialized beside Vanity. She stepped into it, and the dark tendrils wound around her body. "Hmph!" The corridor of darkness vanished, taking Vanity with it.

Sora was breathing hard. His body was sore, and he wanted nothing more than to sleep for a long while. But he couldn't help but smile weakly. _I think…that one counts as a win…_

* * *

"Your heart's greatest desire," Sora said quietly, turning over the compass in his hand. _I want to protect all the worlds I can…I want to protect _this_ world, by sealing the keyhole._ He flipped open the lid. The needle of the compass spun around and around.

Without warning, the keyblade reappeared, floating in the air before Sora. Narrowing his eyes, he transferred the compass to his other hand, and took the keyblade in hand. His arm was pulled to the right, the tip of the keyblade pointed toward the gallows in the middle of the courtyard.

"It was right there, all this time?" In the space between the upper beam and the trapdoor, where a criminal would stand—then hang—a shape started to appear, glowing bright. Sora took hold of the keyblade with his other hand, and held it up. Luminescent stars spun around the tip of the keyblade, and a beam flew from the tip and into the keyhole. With a _click_, it shut.

Sora retrieved the drawstring pouch from his pocket, and pulled out a single shining crystal. He placed it on the bottom of the execution platform, where the Keystone held of its own accord, protecting the keyhole from the darkness.

As he pulled away, the light of the Keystone cast over a glimmering shape beneath the execution stand. In the faint light, he saw that it was a shimmering, blue gemstone. _A summon gem,_ he thought, and took it in hand, making a mental note to look at it later.

"There," he said. "Guys, let's—"

"Sora, Goofy, look!" Donald shouted, looking out over the edge of the cliff down at the ocean below. They rushed to join Donald, and saw the faint outline of a ship on the water.

"The Black Pearl?" Sora's eyes widened, as a massive…_thing_, was all that it could be called, came up beside the ship. They heard water spraying through the air, and through the moonlight, saw whip-like shapes crushing the Black Pearl. A monstrous roar ripped through the night, setting Sora's teeth on edge and sending a chill across his spine.

Though they didn't know exactly what had happened, there was one thing they could be reasonably sure about; Davy Jones had come to collect his debt.

* * *

_**Ten Minutes Earlier…**_

Aboard his tiny dinghy, Captain Jack Sparrow quickly rowed himself to his beloved ship, which, in retrospect, had gotten him into this mess in the first place. Had he never decided to cut a deal with Davy Jones, he wouldn't be running from him to avoid a hundred years servitude, or worse—eternity trapped in Davy Jones' Locker. Was that thirteen years really worth his own soul?

After barely a moment to think about it, Jack said "Of course, what'm I thinkin'?" He kept on rowing, abandoning the dinghy once he reached the _Pearl_ and clambered up the rigging. He took Mr. Gibbs' offered hand, before pushing his first mate away roughly.

"Mr. Gibbs," Jack said, "Set a course for Cuba, I seek Tia Dalma." A powerful voodoo priestess, she was Jack's last hope to avoid Jones' wrath.

"Aye, Captain," Gibbs said, and started barking orders to the crew.

Jack drew his saber, and ran a thumb along the back edge. "Ah, Sora, a thick boy. Shouldn't have tried to go up against Captain Jack Sparrow." He took several large gulps of rum, which quickly got rid of that heavy feeling that pressed upon his heart and made it a labor to take each step.

Above him, a flare of light lit up the sky. "Hmph," he grunted.

As he drank and mused to himself, he seemed to not realize the presence of two people sitting very close by, sitting on a pair of barrels.

"On one hand, I hate that prick Vanity," said the first, with leathery skin and unnatural silver eyes. "On the other hand, there's nothing I like more than watching some idiot not even realize when he's under an illusion."

"You also like touching little boys," said the second, with slimy, green skin. "Seriously, you're as straight as a circle, senpai."

"_Hold your tongue_!"

Captain Jack rushed about the deck. Though he saw a crew of twenty pirates working their tails off to get the _Black Pearl_ moving, the two observers, Suffering and Shame, saw the reality; a dirty, disgusting, drunken pirate captain, running around shouting at empty air.

Suffering, the man with leathery skin, held his hand out in Jack's direction. "What a weak mind, to be so easily fooled." He grinned. "Little-Miss-Kiss-Up wanted time, I figure that's enough time." He snapped his fingers.

Captain Jack stopped. He studied his rum bottle, wondering if it were possible for rum to go bad, given that by his perspective, all of his crew had just vanished.

"Oi, genius, over here," said Shame in a deadpan tone.

Jack turned to face them. "Bloody fantastic, more of y'freaks."

"Hey! I take offense to that!" Suffering spat.

"Your skin is like sandpaper, I'm slimy, and Vanity's Vanity," Shame pointed out. "We are kinda freaks, senpai." Suffering backhanded Shame in the face.

"Despite how much I'd _love_ to stay here and torture ya some," said Suffering, as he created a Corridor of Darkness, "Tentacle-beard's little pet has an appointment with you." He grabbed the back of Shame's shirt, and threw him through the portal, and followed the newbie. The Corridor vanished.

Jack looked over the ship's railing, but there was no way he'd be able to find the dinghy in the dark.

Suddenly, the deck of the _Black Pearl_ rocked, as the sea was shaken by a shockwave.

Captain Jack took a sip of his rum, and straightened his tricorn hat.

The ocean rumbled, and millions of bubbles rose to the surface. Jack calmly watched as massive tentacles with powerful suction cups rose from the water, all around the _Black Pearl_.

From the water, a titanic shape appeared. The Kraken wrapped its tentacles around the ship, and opened its maw and roared a powerful roar. A smell like a thousand rotting corpses hit Jack like a ton of bricks. Five rows of large, pointed teeth lined the Kraken's mouth.

"Hello, Beastie," said Captain Jack, as he raised his saber.

* * *

The next morning, no sign remained of Captain Jack Sparrow nor his crew; and yet, it would soon be discovered that a large galleon had gone missing during the madness of the night. The fires had long since been put out. The effort of rebuilding had begun.

"Lord Beckett."

A pair of young marines had entered Lord Cutler Beckett's office. Lord Beckett himself was the Governor of the East India Trading Company, and chief of all operations in the Caribbean. He was very well kempt, and dressed in dark clothes. He wore a powdered wig and a bicorne hat on his head.

Behind his desk, a cartographer was putting the finishing touches on a map of the world.

"This was found in the town," said the first, a slightly pudgy man named Mullroy.

"It was kinda weird, but it's, uh, uh," stuttered Murtogg, the thinner and shorter partner.

Lord Beckett pursed his lips. He looked at the heavy iron chest the two carried together. "Open it." They set it down, and Mullroy flipped the lid open.

For a moment, light spilled from the lid, but that quickly faded; from the chest, a crystalline heart rose from the chest, and stayed steady in the air. In the depths of the heart, darkness stirred.

Lord Beckett's eyes lit up. "Well," he said, "Look what we have here."


	14. Thank

_A/N: Okay, yeah, this chapter doesn't really make sense at times, but it will eventually, I swear. Mostly, anyways._

_Because both chapter 14 and 15 are very short, I am posting both at the same time. They have very little to do with each other, I just felt really bad about the idea of posting two different chapters a week apart with only 1500 words each, but I also didn't want to combine the chapters into one. On with the show!_

**Chapter 14: Thank…**

_**11:59 P.M., September 11th**_

The needle of the compass spun madly, never stopping even for a moment. "Maybe its magic is limited to just the one world, it doesn't work outside of the world it came from." Sora shut the lid. "Would've made our jobs a lot easier." He pocketed the compass, and put it away with the rest of the trinkets he had collected over time. His mind went to Jack Sparrow. _Well…he was afraid, right? And you can do some really crazy things when you're afraid…if Vanity had gotten him, Jones would've gotten him, and that there's a lot to be afraid of…but Captain Jack Sparrow afraid? That just doesn't fit…_

He pushed those thoughts out of his mind. If he let himself obsess over that, he wouldn't be able to focus on the present day when he needed to.

"Do you guys remember what Vanity said?" Sora said suddenly. Donald stopped his ranting about Jack Sparrow, while Goofy snapped out of a daydream. "She said, it was something like 'These claws have the power to re-open the keyholes.' As though she were the _only_ one who can re-open the keyholes. I mean, I assumed that was a power all of the Splices shared, but if she's the only one with that power…"

"If we could beat her for real," Goofy realized, "That'd make it so they couldn't re-open the keyholes anymore!"

"Yeah, and she isn't as strong as the others," Sora said. He corrected himself: "I mean, she's faster than Madness at the beginning of a fight, but she isn't very good at using her tonfa, and she isn't as strong as him, and didn't use any magic there. She even said that there were other Splices stronger than her." He crossed his arms over his chest. "While I doubt we've seen everything she can pull off, the next time we run into Vanity, we really need to kick it up a notch, so we can take her down for good."

* * *

Sitting alone in his quarters, Sora put the compass away, and pulled his jacket off. He kicked his shoes off, and leaned back against the headboard. _Hm…_ A thought occurred to him. He reached beneath his bunk blindly, until he could feel something smooth and solid. As he pulled out the 16th birthday present from King Mickey, the wrapping paper crackled. He pulled apart the string knot, and tore the brown paper away. A folded note fell out as he did so.

"A book?" Sora said quietly to himself. The cover was plain brown with no decorations, the binding was unmarked. He turned the front cover carefully. The book was blank. He picked up the note, and started to read.

_"Sora," _the letter read, "_At a time when keybearers were a far less rare sight, and many travelled the worlds, it was common to keep a journal of one's travels for future reference and to better educate others. I would recommend that you do the same; you might find it helpful in organizing your thoughts. Best wishes—_" Then the King's insignia.

Sora opened the journal to the first page, and stared at the blanks lines for a moment. He sighed, and closed the journal again. He set it back down, and closed his eyes. _No, not right now. Too much has happened, I can't focus. I'm just not in the mood._

* * *

Sora stood very still for a long time, lacking both will and reason to move.

He knew he was dreaming, oddly enough. He wasn't sure how he had become aware of it, but he knew for a fact that he was asleep, even though much of his surroundings felt very real. The sand was hot under his bare feet. The wind rushed across his face. The tide rushed up, and licked at his toes.

**"So…ra…"**

**"The door…has opened."**

Sora closed his eyes. When he opened them, he wasn't there anymore.

**"So much to do, so little time…"**

"This is my dream," Sora said calmly. The man in the black coat vanished, but everything behind him remained.

A castle, at the end of the road, right on the edge of the darkness. The dreamscape lurched. _Move your legs,_ Sora told himself. _Move. You have to MOVE!_

He pushed the front door open wide, and ran inside the castle he didn't know but couldn't help but feel he had been to before.

**"To lose and claim anew, or to claim anew only to lose."**

The front door slammed shut of its own accord.

"Ah, yes, think about it all, consider every single fact you know and even ones you aren't sure of."

A man appeared , leaning against the wall. His hair was sheer white, his skin was pale, and his eyes were pale blue. A black coat was slung over his shoulders like a cape.

"Uh-huh! Consider every fact, every single grand moment beside your friends and allies," he said. "But! Think on this: grand moments turn to hours; empty hours to days; abominable days to years; lonely years to an eternity! Oh, an everlasting eternity, all on your lonesome! And you can't just close your eyes and plug your ears and wait for it to end, because it won't ever end! It'll just chase you down and hunt you down until it finds you and punishes you for leaving it behind!"

"…Huh?"

"Are you stupid? Do you not understand basic English, you rotten piece of bread in the back of the cupboard that never gets eaten and never gets thrown away?"

"What? I don't understand."

"Understand? Stand, you will stand! Stand against the darkness, stand against the light and twilight and nothingness! Stand up, and fight, boy, or are you afraid?"

"You're not making any sense!"

The white-haired man threw his arms up in the air. "Of course I'm not making any sense!" he said theatrically. "This is a dream, after all!" He waved to Sora coyly. "So long, and thanks for all the fish!" With a loud _Pop!_, he vanished into a cloud of smoke.

It was a good thing that dreams worked on a different timeline than the real world, because Sora sat there for a very long time trying to work out what had just happened.

* * *

Sometime later—or more likely, a few seconds later—Sora started blankly looking around the entry hall he had come into. He took a step forward, and met resistance. He moved his arm around, and met the same invisible force. It was only then that he realized that he couldn't breathe. He couldn't scream.

_Somebody…anybody, please…_

Someone whispered in his ear: "Wow, you're a grade-A idiot, aren't you? Worse than even _that_ guy." There was pressure on his wrist, and he was pulled through the water. As the pressure fell away, light streamed in between his eyelids.

That Person was nowhere in sight. Sora felt completely dry, but that didn't matter. "Hey! _He~ey!_ Who are you?"

"Heh. You'll find out soon enough." Behind his back; Sora spun around, but nobody was there.

"Wait! Who's 'that guy' you were talking about?"

That Person sighed. "Fine, I'll give you a hint. His name starts with a 'V'."

Sora winced in pain. He put a hand to his temple. **"Starts with an 'S'."** "Can't you give me something more than that?"

Nothing. That Person was gone.

Slowly, Sora stood up straight, but words still rattled about his mind. The room here was similar to the entry hall, but instead of several massive doors, there was only one small door. A chair was in the center of the room.

_Skritch-skritch-scratch,_ came the sound of gentle pencil strokes.

Blonde hair near white, and an old dress too small for her. She blended into the background. Were it not for her bright blue eyes, one would swear she were a ghost.

She brushed her hand lightly across the page, and looked up. She smiled wanly.

"You're—" Sora started, but she put a finger over her lips. She shook her head.

**"Goodbye."**

** "No, not goodbye!"**

* * *

_A/N: Next time, we cut away from Sora for a bit to look elsewhere in the universe. A small world filled with light; a prison, surrounded by water. Until then, sayonara!_


	15. The Calm

_NOTICE WARNING LOOK AT THIS NOTE IT IS KIND OF IMPORTANT!_

_Because both chapters 14 and 15 wound up being very short (around 1400 and 1600 words, respectively), I have posted both at the same time. If you are reading it when they were first posted, then be sure not to skip chapter 14, it's kind of important._

**Chapter 15: The Calm**

_**Elrea High School, Destiny Islands, 7:15 P.M., September 12th**_

Riku quietly sipped his drink, ignoring the fact that it was orange punch which he greatly disliked. He crushed his cup, and tossed it over his shoulder. He rubbed his eyes, and sighed. Fifteen minutes in, and he was already bored of the Elrea High School Fall Formal. Not a good sign for the rest of the night.

"Hey, sorry I'm late."

Riku turned his head to look, and his eyes widened. Kairi was wearing a silver and white gown that shimmered whenever she moved. Her hair was tied back, held by a pair of chopsticks. Just a touch of blue eye makeup was swept across her upper lid, and her eyes shone.

Riku spoke before he thought, and said "You look fantastic."

Kairi blushed lightly, and covered her mouth with her hand. "Thanks. The suit works for you. But…where's your tie?"

Riku dug through his pockets, and pulled out a balled-up straight tie, wrinkled severely where he had tried to tie it several times over. Kairi sighed in exasperation. "Gimme." She snatched it from Riku's hand, and looped it around his neck. A few simple movements, and she pulled it tight. "Just, like, that."

"Thanks," Riku said begrudgingly. He ran a hand through his hair. _Man, it's been long for so long I still can't get used to it be short._ "So, did you want to—"

"Look, it's Tidus and Selphie," Kairi said brightly, waving to the couple…couple of friends across the floor. Selphie waved them over, while Tidus appeared to be deeply interested in his cup of fruit punch.

"That stuff really that amazing?" Riku asked, once they were close enough that Tidus could hear him over the music.

"I think somebody spiked the punch," Tidus said. "Can't tell, though, I don't know the taste of alcohol well enough."

"That's surprising," Riku said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I dunno, I've heard that it happens most every year," Selphie said.

"I was talking about Tidus not knowing the taste of alcohol."

"Hey, I don't drink, Wakka'd kill me if I did."

Kairi sighed, and plucked the cup of punch/possibly sake from Tidus' hand, and set it down on the ground a few feet away. "What're you doing?" Selphie asked, bewildered.

"Fire," Kairi said, and snapped her fingers. A small burst of flames formed just over the cup, and the drink inside was lit on fire on contact, with a burst of blue flames six inches high jumping from the cup.

After a few moments of silence, Riku said "Not drinking that."

* * *

"Blizzard," Riku muttered, giving a slight flourish of his hand. A thin patch of ice formed on the floor, and the unfortunate young man attempting to slide across the floor just kept on sliding, straight into the stage. With another thought the ice turned to mist. "If you don't stop laughing somebody's going to suspect us," he said playfully.

Kairi could barely breath she was laughing so hard at the scene. "Ri-Riku, you shouldn't, tha-that was so mean!"

"He'll be fine," Riku said. Nobody would feel sorry for him, anyways; Damien, as it were, was a bully besides, a dangerous hobby in a school where everyone knew your name.

Kairi breathed deeply. "Well…still. Shouldn't we be…role models or something? Y'know…" She lowered her voice some. "Keybearers are heroes, right? Not bully-hunters?"

Riku suddenly felt like there was a miniature raincloud over his head, darkening his mood severely versus how he was a moment earlier. "Mm," Riku grunted. "Guess…yeah…"

"I'm just saying."

"Yeah, I get it." He tucked his hands in his pockets. "I'm gonna go get some fresh air, be back in a bit." Riku left without waiting to hear Kairi's reply, pushing open one of the doors with his shoulder and stepping outside. The cold air hit his face like a slap.

He took a seat on a bench in the yard. He looked up; the moon was clear and bright. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath in. The air smelt of compost. _Probably going to rain sometime tonight. Maybe even storm._ It had, after all, stormed fiercely the last time he had seen a night like this, just over a month earlier. _Should have brought an umbrella._

"I know what you're thinking." Kairi had followed him outside.

"Bet you don't."

"I'm sorry," Kairi said. "I spoke before I thought."

"No," Riku said stiffly. "I have no right to be thinking like this. Not just my promise to Sora, but I promised myself I wouldn't do anything stupid; I wouldn't leave the islands unless somebody came to me and said 'I need your help'. Trying to go out there, play the hero, it's a recipe for disaster."

"That's not true—"

"It's what happened last time," Riku said. He clenched his fist. "I…" He swallowed the rest of his sentence. _I fought endlessly, I did whatever it too, obeying Maleficent, accepting the darkness, even losing my own heart, all because I hoped you would see me as your Knight in Shining Armor, and look where that got me._ "No. I won't. I can't."

Kairi took a seat beside him. "You said…a promise to Sora?"

Riku swore internally. "Right…that is…oh, the hell with it. Sora made me promise that I wouldn't let anything happen to you. That I'd protect you."

Kairi was silent.

"It's nothing against you! It's just, that guy from the Blitzball Tournament, he really shook all of us, and before that there was Saix and Axel, and Maleficent before either of them—"

"Do you really think I'm that easily insulted?" Kairi shook her head. "The only person I'm upset with is myself. I get in the way of _everything_, if I were stronger then you wouldn't _have_ to watch over me." She clenched her fists tightly. "I don't want to be a burden anymore."

Riku's expression softened. "Kairi—Kairi, look at me. Even if you became stronger, even if you surpassed both Sora and me, I'd _still_ worry about you. You're…you're like a sister to me." The small part of his heart that still wanted to be her knight in shining armor cried out in pain at his words. "I wouldn't be able to stand it if I let anything happen to you."

Both were quiet for a long while.

"Look," Riku said. "I…I, um, I'm going back inside. See you in a bit?"

"…Yeah."

Riku stood, and left Kairi alone with her thoughts. She breathed deeply. _The moon looks beautiful tonight._

She stood, and raised her hand as high as she could into the air, palm toward the sky, fingers spread out. She daydreamed for a moment of plucking a star from the sky, and holding that shimmering spark in cupped hands. It's beautiful, she would say reverently.

But it's dull compared to you, he would reply.

"What a dream that is," she said softly. Kairi lowered her hand, and rubbed at the corners of her eyes. _Should probably be getting back inside…_ She abandoned that thought as quickly as it came.

One of the few thousand stars in the sky—the one she had imagined lifting from its place in the heavens—had suddenly grown brighter. Kairi looked on in awe as it outshone any other star. Just as she was about to go after Riku so that he could see it, the light began to fade.

It dimmed past the brightness it had been before, turning darker and darker with each passing moment. In under a minute, that star had gone from being the brightest thing in the sky short of the moon, to just an empty black spot.

Kairi's awe had turned to confusion. But soon enough, as she realized exactly what had happened, she was stricken by unbridled horror. A charge shot down her spine, and her legs felt like Gelatin. Her eyes became wide, and her heartbeat sped up to the rate of a marathon runner. "No," she said, covering her mouth with her hand. "No, that can't be happening."

"Well, actually, it _can_, and has been over the past couple months." Kairi jumped, and turned to face the speaker. It was a young man with messy black hair; he wore black skinny jeans, and an old t-shirt. He adjusted his glasses with two fingers, pushing them up by the bridge. The lenses shone. Kairi blinked, and she stepped back in alarm. What she thought was shadows covering his torso were not shadows at all; the man appeared to have _feathers_ growing from his arms. He grinned madly, revealing oversized canine teeth. "So far the score is keyblade kid, two, us, a few hundred."

"Who…no, what are you?" Kairi said cautiously.

The man put on an expression of false shock. "What? Riku didn't mention me? And I thought we connected so well! I'm positively insulted!"

Kairi took another step back.

"Oh, whatever, like he even matters," he said. "The name's Avarice. I'm what ya call a 'Splice'. And I guess you could say I'm a friend of Sora's."

"Like I've never heard _that_ line before," Kairi snapped.

"Eh, it was worth a shot." Avarice shrugged. "So, you want to come easily, or should I beat you around a little first? Then again, I'd hate to ruin such a fantastic dress. You know where it would look even better? On my—"

Kairi took a deep breath, and screamed at the top of her lungs.

* * *

_A/N: Recently, I've noted how often a woman in fiction is under duress, with somebody (okay, yes, a man) who can help them nearby, but they never attempt to, say, scream for help. Just one of those things that kind of bugs me._


	16. The Storm

**Chapter 16: The Storm**

_**Elrea High School, Destiny Islands, 8:30 P.M., September 12th**_

With a massive yell, Riku charged forward and struck the door with his shoulder and all weight behind it, not for the first, but the third time. By this point, the metal had a small dent in it, his left shoulder was going numb, and whatever force—most likely Heartless—holding the door shut still had not budged. "Screw it, I don't care anymore," Riku muttered. He raised the Way to the Dawn, and black magic orbs charged along the edge of it.

A final glance around to make sure nobody was stupid enough to get in his way, then "Dark Firaga." A massive burst of black and violet flames burst from the tip of his keyblade, struck the double doors, and exploded. Both doors were knocked off their hinges, and the heartless holding them shut were thrown away and out of sight.

Riku ran from the gymnasium, a charge collecting on his keyblade. In the light of the moon, he could make out Kairi, and another person fifteen feet away from her. Holding Way to the Dawn out in front of him, its glow just barely let him see the other person, who he recognized immediately.

"Avarice," Riku said.

_"Tell the princess I'll be seeing her soon enough."_

"Thundara Shot!" A bolt of lightning flew at Avarice, only for a Neoshadow hiding in the ground to leap up and take the shot for him, exploding into a cloud of darkness.

"Nice try," Avarice said with a sneaky grin. A pair of Neoshadows leaped from the ground on either side of Riku, clinging to his arms as he yelped in surprise.

"Riku!" A flare of light flew from Kairi's hand, but it fizzled out before it reached the heartless. Riku grunted, as he threw the Neoshadows off and struck them down. Kairi started running, but Avarice grabbed her by the wrist, and she fell to the ground.

"Like I said, easy way or hard way. What'll it be?" His grip was tight. Kairi tried to pull her hand away uselessly. Avarice laughed. "I guess it's the easy way."

Kairi clenched her fist. "You should pay attention to details more."

"Eh?"

With a yell, Kairi shoved one of the metallic chopsticks that had held her hair up as hard as she could into Avarice's stomach. His pupils became large, and he paled. From his mouth came a dozen loud expletives; "You little—you little—you think this is funny? Don't you _screw with me!_" He threw out a bloodied hand in Riku's direction as the boy tried to sneak up on him, and from the shadows around him a dozen more Neoshadows appeared. "_Hold him off,_" he hissed. "_Kill him. Like I care._" With a rough yank, Avarice pulled the chopstick out of his stomach, and threw it to the side. His hands and abdomen were covered in his own blood. "Hope the boss-man doesn't need you too—"

"Fire!" Kairi ran her hands through the air, sparks tracing her hands, brought her arms around, and crossed her wrists in front of her. A rippling stream of fire flew at Avarice; he just barely dodged it, the flames singing his hair. "Wind!" A gale-force wind buffeted Avarice, and Kairi raised her hand again and closed her eyes. "Light." An arrow of light caught him in the arm.

"Nice," Riku said. The Neoshadows were little more than dust. "Now go, I'll take care of this guy."

Avarice grunted. "Unless you're planning on running to the ends of the universe, I doubt that's going to help much. There's no way you can stand against _me_, kid."

"Considering Kairi just made you look like an idiot, I doubt that I'll have any trouble," Riku said confidently.

"I underestimated the little princess," Avarice admitted. "Not a mistake that I'll make again. Speaking of the princess, I hear you didn't tell her about our little…spat?"

"You know this guy?" Kairi said.

"Don't listen to him, he's just trying to be a distraction."

"Yep, I met him on the beach one morning not too long ago," Avarice said. He adjusted his glasses. "Called up one of these things." He snapped his fingers, and a Fay Heartless appeared, playing with its scarf. Riku stiffened. "This close to killing him. Too bad, would have made for one less obstacle. Now, I wonder why he wouldn't have told you?" He faked like he was in deep thought about it. "Maybe something about how 'I worry for you', 'You're like a sister to me', blah, blah, blah. Humans are so mushy, it makes me want to puke."

"Why didn't you tell me about him?" Kairi said quietly.

"Can we talk later?"

"There's no 'later' for anyone here." Black sparks played over the Splice's hands, structuring into solid shapes. Shaped like bronze knuckles on his hands, a short knife blade protruded downward. He raised his trench knives, and grinned. "Sure you don't feel like giving up?"

Light swam around Riku's left hand, and the flowered keyblade appeared. He offered it to Kairi. She took it with a nod.

Avarice became a blur, charging at Riku and swiping at him with his trench knives. Quick movements fended off his strikes. At the same moment Avarice attacked Riku, the Fay went at Kairi, its body moving fluidly. Kairi stepped to the side, and the Fay's hands started to glow. A crystal spear grew from the ground at an angle and just barely clipped Kairi, putting a long, thin cut on her cheek.

"Oi, you idiot, don't kill her!" Avarice snapped at the Fay.

"Fire!" Riku declared, and the fireball exploded against Avarice's chest.

Kairi moved minimally to avoid the crystal daggers the Fay was throwing at her, waiting for a moment of lag, then closing in to attack the Fay with her nameless keyblade. She swept the keyblade around and sliced at the Fay's chest. It responded by binding her keyblade with its scarf the next time she tried to attack. The Fay yanked the keyblade out of her hands and threw it away, careful not to touch the metal. A crystal knife formed in its hand, and swiped at her face. Kairi dropped back, glancing at first the keyblade, then at the heartless between her and it, then at Riku, kept busy fending off Avarice's trench knives.

"Blizzard," Kairi said calmly, manipulating the ice so as to not become a projectile, but instead shape itself into a simplistic sword. Only around two feet long, and not so much a sword as a club, it served its immediate purpose; parrying the Fay's attacks. Ice chips flew as the crystal clashed with her makeshift weapon, as Kairi slowly worked herself around the Fay, inch by inch, step by step. With all of her strength, she struck the Fay in the head with the SOS Blade (_Only to be used in case of emergencies,_ would be her later reason for naming that technique as such), and ran for her keyblade, snatching it off the ground and casting a light spell at the Fay.

Riku barely caught glimpses of Kairi, as he tried to keep his distance from Avarice. _His weapons are small, which is why he needs to get in so close, and he can attack with one knife at a time. And his stance…it's like he's _dancing. Avarice barely touched the ground between attacks—swipe across, punch in the jaw, taking every attack Riku managed to land and absorbing the impact, pushing himself back so as to avoid the damage. It was like trying to fight a falling leaf.

Avarice ran at his peak speed, jumped up, and aimed to kick Riku in the head with both feet. Riku brought the keyblade up; Avarice bounced away as his feet struck the flat of the blade, flipping backwards once to land flat, and Riku was thrown back by the impact. Way to the Dawn vanished, and Riku held his arms out at each side. Sparks of electricity surrounded the left; embers of fire, the right. _Maybe not so skilled with normal spells,_ Riku thought as he charged each. _But what if I combine them?_ He clenched his fists, brought his arms forward, and aimed carefully. "Firestorm."

Bursts of fire and lightning exploded out in beams, mixing with each other and igniting further, releasing a widely-spread concussive force. Riku was pushed back a few inches from the recoil, but managed to stay on his feet. He breathed deeply, his strength sapped. _Alright,_ he thought. _Alright, don't screw around._

"Hiiiiii-ya!" Kairi yelled as she struck the Fay as hard as she could, driving it back several feet. Its hands started to glow. Before it could take any action, Way to the Dawn was driven all the way through its body from behind. It screamed in pain, then exploded into dust.

"Gone," Riku said. "And it looks like Avarice ran."

"WRONG!" Riku froze as a cold metal blade touched his throat. "Just a short tactical retreat. Don't underestimate your opponent, kid, it'll get you killed someday." Avarice grinned. His left arm was badly burned—he hadn't fully dodged Riku's Firestorm. "Now then, princess, drop the keyblade."

In a moment, Kairi considered all possibilities aside from dropping her keyblade. All of them ended in a red smile. She released her keyblade, and it vanished when it hit the ground. A Corridor of Darkness formed beside Avarice.

_There's no other choice._ She took the first step. _Why am I so useless?_ Her eyes were fixed on the ground. _If I don't, he'll kill Riku._ Her entire body was shaking. _I'm nothing but a scared little girl in way over her head._ Tears spilled down her cheeks. _Do I really just exist to be bait?_ Her dress was torn and dirty from hitting the ground a dozen times over. _I can't give up._ Her heart grew heavy at the expression of guilt and shame in Riku's eyes. _I _have _to give up._ She could see her own reflection in Avarice's glasses. _I want to scream as loud as I can._ She came up to the Corridor of Darkness, and stopped.

"I'm sorry," Riku choked out.

"Get goin', or I might kill him anyways," Avarice said.

_…What is this feeling?_ Sadness…worthlessness…fear…hate. All of those were there. _I…I don't want to feel that way. I want to be happy, I want to feel like I'm worth something, I don't want to be afraid. I want Avarice _gone. _What is this...this...__resolve?_

Kairi wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. The tears slid along her fingers, a dozen drops of light. They reached her fingertips, and dripped onto the ground. With a motion like drawing a sword, Kairi brought her arm up, and drops of light spun around her hand.

The grip formed first, long enough to be wielded one or two-handed. The hilt grew out from the base of the grip, curving around into a heart; the left side formed a breaking wave, as the right swept upwards to form a beige vine of sand curling around the shaft containing every color of the evening sunset. At the end, from the vine burst a bouquet of flowers in every color. A braided strip of red silk trailed from the base of the hilt. The keychain was shaped like a paopu fruit.

Kairi raised the keyblade summoned by her own will. She could feel a rush of magical power, like a breath of fresh air. _Destiny's Embrace._ Avarice moved his trench knife up an inch, and just a hairsbreadth from his skin. _It's not enough. I'm sorry, Riku._

She dismissed Destiny's Embrace, and stepped through the Dark Corridor without another word. Avarice's trench knife vanished, and he pushed Riku away, dropping back himself.

Riku recovered himself, and ran back at the Corridor of Darkness. Avarice waved at him, as he vanished. "NO!" Riku launched himself through the air, just barely reaching the portal before it closed.

There was utter silence.

_**Radiant Garden, 9:00 P.M., September 12th**_

_ CRACKA-THOOM!_ Came the lightning and thunder. His wet hair stuck to his neck.

Somehow, his breathing was steady and calm. Everything felt numb. Riku seemed to be ignorant of the storm, walking through the puddles at an easy pace.

He stopped beneath an awning, and unclenched his hand. There were red marks from his nails digging in.He closed his eyes.

_I'm sorry._


End file.
